Insulated Lunch Tote Tutorial

*UPDATED 3-2-14*

Due to a large number of requests, I've updated the tutorial with the finished dimensions and a few clarifications.  Enjoy!

I designed this insulated lunch tote for Sandra's Handmade Christmas in July series.

All the materials are machine washable, which for me, is what makes this worthwhile. I hate not being able to really wash my coolers. 


Here's what you need:

2 pieces of medium weight fabric, main part of tote (16 in. X 16 in.)
2 pieces of medium weight fabric, contrasting part of tote (16 in. X 7 in.)2 pieces of PUL waterproof fabric (16 in. X 16 in.)2 pieces of Insul-Bright insulating fabric (16 in. X 16 in.)12 inch zipper
2 pieces of 1" cotton webbing, 24 in. each, for straps (or make your own)

Approximate Finished Dimensions:
12 inches across the top (at zipper)
11 inches tall
7 x 7 inches at the bottom


Take the contrasting pieces of fabric and fold over 1/2inch along the long side, toward the wrong side of fabric. Place on top of main fabric pieces, with folded side at the top, wrong side facing the right side of main panel. Sew in place.Now, we're going to shape the bag a little. On the bottom edge of the bag, measure a 4in. X 4in. square in the bottom 2 corners, and carefully cut it out. Keep in mind you should be cutting through the contrasting fabric piece you just sewed in place. If you're not, you're at the wrong corner.
Do this for all layers (both main panels, PUL and Insul-Bright layers)


Here's what it should look like.


A little more shaping. Make a mark 2 inches from either side of bag.

Draw a line from the corner of the bottom cutout.Cut on your line, for all layers (2 main panels, 2 PUL and Insul-Bright layers)
Now that we've got our bag shaped, here's some quick instructions if you want to make your own straps. Since the straps are 24inches long, cut a piece of fabric 24 inches by 4 times what you want the final strap width to be, in this case 1 inch. So you should have 2 pieces of fabric 24 x 4 inches.

Fold in half lengthwise, iron. Open it up, fold in half again, iron. Fold the ends in 1/2 inch, to finish. The following pictures should be pretty self explanatory.

Topstich all the way around strap to finish.

OK, back to our lunch tote. Mark 3 inches in from each side, and 3 inches down from each side and pin strap to the exterior fabric only. (pardon the fabric change here, needed to add a few pictures after the fact...)
Sew in place (to the exterior fabric only) making sure to not sew all the way to the top, since we still need to attach our zipper.
OK, on to the zipper, my least favorite part of any project. Pin the right side of zipper (zipper pull facing) to the right side of one of your main bag panels. Lay the shiny side (right side) of the PUL on top of the wrong side of zipper, and the Insul-Bright on top of that. Using a zipper foot, sew a 1/4 inch seam through all layers.
This is how it should look after sewing and folding back so right sides are out. (I had to get my seam ripper out a few times at this stage, so don't feel bad if you have to as well)Now for the other side of the zipper. Again, pin the right side of the zipper to the right side of the other main panel. The shiny (right side) of PUL to wrong side of the zipper, and the Insul-Bright underneath. Sew through all layers again.

Here's what is should look like when all the layers are folded back.

Fold the layers back so the main panels are right side together and the PUL right sides are together (Insul-Bright will be on the outside). Sew along the edges, the bottom of the main panel, and just 1 inch in from either side of the PUL/Insul-Bright lining. You NEED to leave this opening in the bottom for turning. Also, at this point, you should open your zipper, otherwise you won't be able to turn it. Last, be VERY careful sewing the sides, that you don't hit the metal at the end of the zipper. It can damage your machine, break your needle etc.
The next step is to shape the bottom. Match the side seam with the bottom seam at the centers. Pin and sew across with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Do this for both corners of the main panel and both corners of the lining (PUL/Insul-Bright layers together).It's a little hard to photograph, but here's what it should look like.

Almost done! Carefully turn the bag right side out.

Now we've got this opening to deal with. The best thing to do would be to hand sew it closed. I'm not that patient.I folded the edges in, and sewed a little seam across to close it up.Push the lining into the bag and zip it up. Ta-dah! Done.

Hope you hung in there. The finished product is really worth it.
Let me know what you think!

Tote + Tutorial = Totorial

(remember, this is for personal use only.  contact me if you'd like to become a licensed seller)

These days I've been trying hard to work through my fabric stash, mostly to justify buying more fabric! With the end of the school year coming, I decided to figure out a cute teacher gift that would help with my de-stash goal. Here's what I came up with.
I'm a big proponent of reusable bags. But, you don't always want to whip out your smelly grocery bag when you're at the mall or library. So why not make a cute little tote with some beautiful fabric.

Here's what you'll need:

main body of the bag: 2 fabric pieces 15 x 10 inches
contrasting top of bag: 2 fabric pieces 15 x 6 inches
handles: 2 fabric pieces 4 x 16 inches
6 inches of thin elastic
1 button
Fold your piece of elastic in half and baste at the center of one of the 15 inch sides of the main body fabric.

Lay a contrasting panel on top of the main panel, sandwiching the elastic in between, and sew a 1/4 seam. Finish seam with either a zig-zag stitch or serge. Do the same for the other main body and contrasting panels.
Press seam allowance towards the upper contrasting panel and top-stitch.


Since this bag isn't lined, I decided to do french seams on the sides. To do this, lay the front and back panels with WRONG sides together, so right sides facing out, and sew a 1/4 inch seam down each side only.
Turn the bag so that RIGHT sides are facing in and WRONG sides are facing out. Press well. Then sew a 1/2 inch seam down one side, across the bottom and up the other side. It's very important that this seam be wider than the previous seams so that the previous seam will be enclosed.

Serge or zig-zag to finish the bottom seam and turn bag right side out. Press.

Now set the bag aside and let's work on the straps. First, fold strap in half lengthwise, open the fold up and fold edges again towards the center fold. You should end up with a 1 inch x 16 inch strap. Sew along both edges.


Now that the straps are ready, take the main body of the bag and serge or zig-zag around the top. Then fold the top towards the wrong side of the bag 1/2 inch to finish off the top.

Take each strap and fold the raw edge in about 1/2 inch. Then pin 3 inches in from the edge of the bag.
Sew 2 seams across the top to secure the straps in place.


Sew your button about 3 inches above the elastic and you're done!
Fold your bag up and throw it in your purse.

Oilcloth Tote and Lunch Bag Set

In our house we are big believers in reusable bags. But, the bags we use for our groceries aren't exactly the bags I want to be toting around at the mall or to friend's houses. I found this great tutorial over at Prudent Baby and decided I needed to make this bag.

This bag is the perfect size for bringing PJs over to a New Year's Eve party or snow pants over to a New Year's Day sledding party, or a day of shopping! As my good friend over at Jane of All Trades would say (though it's never true for her stuff), don't look too close. I could not for the life of me figure out how to do the mitered corners. I just kind of winged it, yelling all the while. My daughter told me to be patient.....

I ending up buying a yard of this beautiful Michael Miller Far Out Floral and had enough to make a matching lunch bag. I decided to do it without the bias tape border.

I really love the way this set came out and it's so useful. I suspect I'll be making another one of these lunch totes and maybe, just maybe the stars will align so that I can get enough time to take photos while it's light out and then write a tutorial. Stay tuned....