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Step 6Cutting the handles...
Earlier I had you set aside the piece you cut from the bottom. We'll make the handles out of that.
I'm having problems with setting up the pictures in the correct order - when I click on a picture to open it, it changes the order and I don't know why - so I alphabetized them.
A. For my handles I want to remove that part of the bag that has the stitching the manufacturer did on the bottom of the bag. I want to cut off as little as possible so that I have plenty of plastic for the handles.
There isn't an exact width needed, you can see that I have 5 inches to use for the handles.
B. This shows the 5 inches cut away. That white plastic on the right can be disposed of.
C. What ever the width of your strip turned out to be, cut it exactly in half.
D. You now have two circular strips.
E. Cut them both in half at the crease at the center of the sides.
F. You now have 4 strips that look like this. I use the two on the left for the top of the handles and the two on the right for the underside of the handles.
G. This is my quilt batting...why use batting? Because a friend of mine who also made her own tote bags, one with batting and one without, discovered that the handles without batting deteriorated more quickly.
You can use any type of batting, cotton, polyester, wool. And if you're specific, it's "low loft". The batting in the picture is about 45" wide and is folded in half once and then once again, so that it's just over a foot across. And you cut the batting the same width as the handle strips.
H. This picture shows I cut a 2 1/2" strip to match the width of my handle strips. Repeat so that you have two cut strips of batting.
I. This pictures shows my two strips, approximately 20-ish inches long because I left the batting folded once.
I'm having problems with setting up the pictures in the correct order - when I click on a picture to open it, it changes the order and I don't know why - so I alphabetized them.
A. For my handles I want to remove that part of the bag that has the stitching the manufacturer did on the bottom of the bag. I want to cut off as little as possible so that I have plenty of plastic for the handles.
There isn't an exact width needed, you can see that I have 5 inches to use for the handles.
B. This shows the 5 inches cut away. That white plastic on the right can be disposed of.
C. What ever the width of your strip turned out to be, cut it exactly in half.
D. You now have two circular strips.
E. Cut them both in half at the crease at the center of the sides.
F. You now have 4 strips that look like this. I use the two on the left for the top of the handles and the two on the right for the underside of the handles.
G. This is my quilt batting...why use batting? Because a friend of mine who also made her own tote bags, one with batting and one without, discovered that the handles without batting deteriorated more quickly.
You can use any type of batting, cotton, polyester, wool. And if you're specific, it's "low loft". The batting in the picture is about 45" wide and is folded in half once and then once again, so that it's just over a foot across. And you cut the batting the same width as the handle strips.
H. This picture shows I cut a 2 1/2" strip to match the width of my handle strips. Repeat so that you have two cut strips of batting.
I. This pictures shows my two strips, approximately 20-ish inches long because I left the batting folded once.
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