Sew or Serge an Easy Market Tote

As our awareness of the impact of plastic shopping bags on our environment increases, so has the popularity of reusable bags. The cloth Market Tote is a great option if you'd like to make your own -- it's very easy to construct, and because it requires only about 1/2 yard of fabric to make one about the same size as those plastic bags you get at the market, it's fairly inexpensive as well. You can use your serger, or your sewing machine -- I used both for bag shown in this tutorial. So here we go!

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Step 1

I started by creating a tissue pattern from a plastic bag I got from the market. For more information on how to make the pattern go to Screaming Mimi's Sewing Room.

Place your pattern tissue with the handles on the fold of your fabric so that when you cut, you will end up with one fabric piece. That fold you see at the side of the fabric is just where I folded a 1 yard piece of fabric so that I could cut 2 bags at once.