DIY Patriotic Tote Bag with Toothbrush Painting
Get ready to show off your patriotic spirit with this fun DIY Patriotic Tote Bag project! Today, we'll dive into the wonderful world of sewing and toothbrush painting to create a one-of-a-kind patriotic tote bag. Unleash your creativity as we guide you through step-by-step instructions and share handy tips and tricks.
Equipment
- Sewing machine – although if you know your way around hand sewing, you can definitely do it without a sewing machine.
- Cutting machine – Silhouette Cameo or Cricut. However, if you don’t have one you can just print out a bunch of stars and cut them out by hand on freezer paper
- Measuring tape and ruler
- Pins
Ingredients
- Fabric paint – I used red and blue
- White fabric – 2 pieces 40 x 60 cm 16″ x 24″
- White fabric – for handle 1 piece 80 x 16 cm 32″ x 6″
- Patterned fabric – for lining 2 Pieces 40 x 60 cm 16″ x 24″
- Patterned fabric – for lining 1 piece 30 x 16 cm 12″ x 6″
- White felt or batter – 2 Pieces 40 x 60 cm 16″ x 24″
- Old toothbrush
- Vinyl or freezer paper stars.
- 1 white small button
- 1 Big button {I used blue}
- About 10 cm 4 Inches of elastic cord.
- Matching thread and needles
Instructions
STEP 1: PREP WORK
- Cut all the necessary fabric pieces and also cut my felt.
- I made some starts on my Silhouette studio app and filled the whole cutting area.
- I cut a piece of freezer paper to cover the cutting area of my mat. 12×12. Placed it wax side facing up.
STEP 2: CUTTING THE STENCILS
- Then I sent it and cut it on my Cameo using a freezer paper. I used print paper as a setting and set the blade to 1.
- Once the cut was made, I remove all the paper leaving only the stars on the mat.
STEP 3: STENCILING AND PAINTING
- Using one of the 40 x 60 white fabric I placed and ironed the stars on the right side.
- Then I protected a table with paper and also used a plastic surface.
- I placed the star-masked fabric there and secure it with small pieces of tape.
- I slightly deluded the paint with some water, just a few drops to make it a bit thinner.
- With the toothbrush, I started splatting the blue paint on half of the fabric and the other half with red paint.
- I left it dry for a couple of hours and then removed the stars carefully.
- Tadaaa! The painting is done!
STEP 4: SEW THE OUTER SIDE OF THE TOTE BAG.
- I put together one piece of 40 x 60 white fabric with one piece of felt.
- And I put together the painted fabric with the piece of felt (painted fabric facing out).
- Then placed both groups together, white fabric and painted fabric facing each other and stitched around 2 long felt sides and one short side leaving one short side open.
- In order for the bag to have a flat bottom we will need to create a pleat. To do this, fold the bottom corners of your bag so it creates a triangle in the corner. Matching up the side seam and bottom seam will make this line up perfectly.
- Pinned the corner; and with a water erasable pen, made a mark 2.5” away from the corner.
- Drew a stitching line and then stitch across to create a pleat.
- I cut the triangle leaving a seam allowance of 1 cm.
- Turned it over.
STEP 5: SEW THE HANDLE OF THE TOTE BAG
- Folded the 80 x 16 cm handle fabric in half lengthwise, stitched the long side, and turned it inside out.
- I placed and pinned in place each end of the handle strip to the sides of the tote bag on the right side.
STEP 6: SEW THE INNER POCKETS
- To make inside pockets I hemmed one long side of the 30 x 16 patterned fabric and placed it on top of the right side of one of the 40 x 60 cm patterned fabric.
- Stitched it around the sides and bottom.
- I also stitched about 10 cm from one edge to make a phone pocket.
STEP 7: SEW THE LINING OF THE BAG
- Repeated step 5 with only the patterned fabric or the fabric you are using as the lining.
STEP 8: ASSEMBLE THE TOTE BAG
- It’s time to sew the white and patterned fabric/lining together. I placed white fabric (with felt) inside the patterned fabric, right sides together.
- I stitched around the top bag leaving a 1 cm seam allowance and also leaving a 6-8 cm opening for turning the bag.
- Turned the bag inside out and pushed the patterned side inside the bag.
- Stitched all the way around the top edge of the bag. This closed up the opening I used to turn.
- At this point, the bag is almost done.
STEP 9: FINAL TOUCHES
- On the back of the bag, I stitched a button with the elastic cord.
- I just folded the elastic in half and made a knot on the end and in the middle.
- On the front side of the bag (the painted one), I stitched the big blue button and placed the elastic around it.
- Tadaaaaaaaaa!!! The patriotic tote bag is ready to rock…