Sew your own DIY Tote!

written by Dominique Matthe August 13, 2020

Ever wanted to sew your own shopper bag or tote? We’ve created this easy-to-follow guide for creating your very own sturdy canvas tote! This shopper bag has comfortable handles and offers plenty of room to fit in all the everyday items that you carry around with you.

Psst! Want more precise instructions? Try out one of our many bag patterns over on Makerist!

Browse Bag Patterns

Our Pattern Recommendation

This bag is the perfect bag for work, university, and shopping as well as traveling and going to the beach. The instructions are suitable for all levels of difficulty, which makes this the perfect pattern.

Depending on which fabrics you choose, the Shopper Bag is absolutely changeable in style and versatile. With a plain black fabric and golden accents, it would be the perfect bag for chic evening occasions.

Material for your shopping bag

We have chosen these three sturdy cotton canvases fabrics for our Shopper Bag.

What you need for the Shopper bag:

Three different sturdy canvas fabrics (exact measurements to be found under the next picture)
A sewing machine
Iron & ironing board
Sewing thread
Measuring tape, scissors, safety pins, fabric clamps or pins

Preparation and cutting

First, cut your fabric

2 x 45×42 cm inner fabric (the yellow striped fabric)
1 x 45×26 cm fabric floor outside (plain yellow)
2 x 45×30 cm fabric outside on top (white with black crosses)
2 x 116×8 cm fabric for the handles (plain yellow
Measuring tape, scissors, safety pins, fabric clamps or pins

Then iron your fabrics before you start sewing.

Sew the shopper bag yourself

Now it’s time to sew your very own Shopper bag! First, take the two strips of fabric for the straps and sew them together lengthwise with a close edge.

Then turn the two fabric tubes inside out (using a pen or knitting needle, for example).

When you’re done, iron the two strips of fabric on the handles so that the seam is centered.

Then place the straps on your fabric as shown in the photo.

Keep 4 inches from the side edge.

Also, keep 5 cm from the top edge and mark this point with pins.

Do this with both sides of the upper outer parts of the bag and pin the straps in place.

Use your sewing machine to sew the straps on the left and right with a lock stitch.

Place the yellow piece of fabric for the bottom of the bag right sides together on a piece of fabric with handles on the upper outside. Fix both parts together with fabric clips at the lower edge.

Sew the two layers together at the bottom edge with about 1 cm seam allowance.

Now fix the other piece of fabric with straps right sides together on the floor. Sew these two layers together as well.

You have now sewn all the outer parts together: the top two outer pieces of fabric with the straps and the bottom.

Use your sewing machine to sew the Biden close to the edge with a lockstitch seam. This makes it look a lot neater.

This nicely emphasizes the transition from the floor to the side part.

Now fold the two outer sides with their handles including the bottom right on top of each other and fix the two side edges with fabric clamps like on the photo.

Sew the two layers together with a seam allowance of about 1 cm.

Now take the two pieces of fabric for the inside of the bag. Clasp them together at the bottom.

Sew the pieces of fabric together with a 1 cm seam allowance, but leave a gap at the bottom in the middle. You can turn the bag through this hole later.

Now pin the two fabrics together on the sides as well.

Sew the two sides together as well.

Now you have two pockets: the inside pocket and the outside pocket with handles.

To get the bottom and the depth of the bag, you can now fold the lower corners on top of each other so that the center fold of the bottom and the side seam overlap. Use a pin to mark 7 cm from the sharp corner.

Do this for all four lower corners of the inner and outer pockets.

Now sew a new seam across the side seam at all four corners at the level of the marking. Cut off the leftover tip.

This is what both parts of the bag look like now, by sewing the corners they have both got an equally large base.

Put the outside pocket right sides together into the inside pocket so that the two “good sides” of the fabric touch and turn the handles inwards. Then use fabric clips to pin both layers of the bag evenly around the top edge. The side seams should be on top of each other.