Getting Started on a Pattern for Making a Tote Bag

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Terri Turco with Expert Village. Now we are going to make that tote bag. But first we have to have a pattern. Now you don't have to run to a fabric store, spend a bunch of money on a pattern. You can make the pattern. The tote bag I'm going to be making is thirty inches long and eighteen inches in length okay. So the width is thirty inches, the length is eighteen. If you want a bigger tote bag like the one I'm showing you here then just increase the inches on the side. You can make it thirty-six inches, you can make it forty-two inches or if you want it really small you can make it ten inches. But all you need to do it think rectangular. A tote bag is basically a big rectangle. So is the scarf, so is a number of items but just think rectangle. So just make sure that there width is longer then your length. Alrighty! This only has two pieces the second piece is your handle. You are going to need two handle one for one side and one for the other side. They are going to have to be lined. So basically you are going to need four pieces so you are going to need two pieces of your body and four pieces of your handle. Now I'm making my handle three and a half inches wide and twenty-one inches long. Okay! You always want the handle length to be a little bit longer the your purse because you need to be able to put in on shoulder or hold it on your hand. So if you are going eighteen inches go a little bit bigger then twenty-one cause remember you are folding it in half. So when we come back we are going to cut our four pieces of our fashion fabric for the handle. Cut two pieces of the body of the fabric for the tote bag itself. So get your markers ready you don't need a pattern you just need a tissue or a newspaper and you can make your pattern in any size you want. Come back and we would show you how it all cuts out. "