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Hang on to those feelings of hazy summer days with this beautiful and practical tote bag, made using natural linen and cotton fabrics with a mix of patchwork, appliqué and pretty cotton lace. Add a pair of smart wooden handles, then pack in your essentials for a nature walk or trip to the beach.
Sew a linen tote bag
For the front, cut 35.5cm x 40cm of linen, a 10.5cm x 35.5cm strip of floral patterned white fabric and a 5.5cm x 35.5cm strip of pink patterned cotton fabric. Using the photo as a guide, cut out several flower heads and leaves from pale blue fabric, back them with fusible interfacing and pin in position as shown. The largest pale blue flower head should be 8cm from the left side and 4.5cm from the top edge of the linen.
Using an embroidery hoop to keep the fabric taut, sew each flower head in place using contrasting thread. Stitch the stems in white and grey thread and add darker blue lines around some of the leaves and flowers. Press with an iron on the reverse and set aside. Cut a 35cm length of cream cotton lace and stitch it down the left-hand side next to the large blue flower.
Cut 8cm x 35cm of yellow fabric. Turn both long edges over to the wrong side by 1cm, iron the crease and pin it down the left of the linen so that the left side of it matches the linen edge and the right side covers some of the cream lace edge. Topstitch in coordinating thread and set aside.
Stitch the strips of pink and white patterned fabric cut out in step 1 together with a 5mm seam allowance and press the seams open. Lay a piece of wadding that is the same size onto the reverse side and pin. Quilt at either side of the seam then stitch in random wavy lines using a contrasting thread. Trim away the excess wadding.
With the main linen front of the bag right side up, place the quilted piece wrong side up onto it, approximately 12.5cm up from the bottom edge
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