The Painted Totes are Done!

Here they are, the totes from my last post. I finished them a few days ago but it took a while for me to get the photos taken...rainy days all week did not help...neither did the photo editing program crashing daily :P

I made each bag a little different & was hoping to gather some opinions on which style is most liked. None of them have a closure. I figured that with their sizes (nearly 2 feet wide) a snap wouldn't do much and a zipper won't allow for overstuffing. I could easily add a simple tie closure, may try that on the next one. The straps have twill tape inside to give them more oomph. They all have 2 large pockets inside - one printed and the other in the solid color & sectioned. The bottom is reinforced with an extra piece of stiff craft interfacing fused (and quilted, on some) to the lining. The next batch I make will be half this size. I don't want too many XL totes hanging around.

Now for the bags & their differences...oh, and the center panels are all hand painted to mimic the print.

This first one has a strip of the printed fabric all around the top edge.


This bag has the 2 different colors next to the print.


This is the simplest - no band at the top and only one solid color...plus, no pleats.

Here are all 4 hanging above my machine...no idea where to store yet :P
The yellow bag was in the last post...it's difference is the pleating...which is quite bulky when sewing. I feared for my poor little machine. The yellow is also a tad see through, which is what brought on the idea for the band around the top on the chili pepper bag.

So, any preference among the differences?

Finally, More Bags

I have been having so much fun with my monster stuffies and accessories that I have neglected my poor bags. A while back - like just before my vacation one month ago - I had cut out bunches of bags. I have gone back to some of my super sized totes (well, to me they seem super sized...almost 2 feet wide and 5-6 inches deep) but with some hand painting on the center panels. I finished one up the other night and another last night (no finished pics of that one yet). I decided not to pleat them all. Reason one - it's a total pain in the butt because of how thick it gets...I don't want to anger the machine. Reason two - I can never decide which I prefer.


These are the pieces for the other 3 bags-to-be....

That last one was finished up last night. The pink (which looks kinda orange in that pic) are the panels that went on either side of the print panels. And I am proud to say that I am thinking ahead & creating simple zip pouches to go with each bag (that goes for most, not just these totes). Okay, I'll fess up to the whole truth on these...while I am prepping all my bags for some kind of accessory (mostly zip pouches), these came about from a miscalculation. I created one too many panels for each bag. Two to four too many actually. Oops. Oh well - good things come from goofs. Like zip pouches and extra pockets inside. Woo Hoo?