Quilted Lunch Tote Tutorial

 Make one! It may seem hard, but they are really simple and fun. And, you can wash them over and over. Never done any quilting? This is a perfect project for experimenting.
It’s time to head back to school with a delicious lunch in hand! You can whip up several of these easy and useful Quilted Lunch Totes with the tutorial.

Materials:

•sewing machine
•cutting mat
•ruler
•scissors
•rotary cutter (optional)
•straight pins
•small hair binder (sold at Walgreens, WalMart, Target, etc)
•1 button, at least 1 inch in diameter
•fabric (1/2 yard each of 2 coordinating prints or solids, 1 for outside and 1 for lining)
•cotton, bamboo or polyester quilt batting
•fusible interfacing (I used Pellon 950F)
•1 yard, 1” wide handle strapping or webbing (usually sold by the yard at fabric stores)
•1 inch biased tape maker (if you choose to cover your webbing)
disappearing ink pen (found in notions section of fabric store)
•iron and ironing board

Part I--Prepare Handles 

Step 1--Out of LINING fabric cut 2 strips 18”X2”
for handle cover (if using plain strapping/webbing skip this page of the pattern).

Step 2--Follow bias tape maker instructions  and make covers for both straps.

Step 3--Pin fabric to webbing.

Step 4--Sew fabric on to webbing on both sides, 1/8” from the edge.

Step 5--Trim off any excess fabric.

Your handles will look like this, set aside.

Part II--Prepare Lining

Step 1--cut 2 squares of OUTSIDE fabric 12”X12”
(see upper photo)
cut 2” notches out of both bottom corners
Step 2--cut 2 squares of LINING fabric 12”X12”
(see upper photo)
cut 2” notches out of both bottom corners

Step 3--Place lining pieces together right sides facing.

Step 4--With a disappearing ink pen put a mark 2 inches in from each bottom notch, DO NOT SEW between these marks!

Step 5--Pin lining and sew along the edges. Do not sew in between marks or notches! Only sew where dotted lines are shown.

Step 6--Leave a 1/4” seam allowance while sewing the lining.

Step 7--Mark the corner of each notch (front and back) with a dot.

Step 8--Pinch dots and pull fabric apart.

Step 9--Pin.

Your lining should look like this.

Step 10--Sew from one dot to the other, removing pins as you sew.

Step 11--Sew the other corner so you lining looks like this, set aside.

Part III--Prepare Outside

Step 1--Iron cover pieces on to fusible interfacing.

Step 2--Trim around edges so both outside pieces look like this.

Step 3--Decide how you would like to quilt your outside pieces. You can do curvy lines, straight (using a ruler to help) or a spiral from the inside out. Use your disappearing ink pen to draw your design. If you don’t like your first attempt, spray fabric with water, lines will disappear as it dries and try again. Then, pin your outside pieces to a piece of batting that is about 14”X14”.
Just enough so there is about 1” of spare batting around the outside edge.

Step 4--When quilting, it is best to start sewing on a middle line, or in the case of the spiral design, start your quilting in the center and work your way outward. Remove pins as you sew. You may find it helpful to use safety pins instead of straight pins for this step.

Don’t worry if your sewing does not follow your drawn lines exactly. The lines are only a guide. Have fun with the quilting!

Step 5--Trim off excess batting.

The back side of your quilted pieces will look something like this.

Step 6--Place both outside pieces together, right sides facing.

Step 7--Pin around edges of outside pieces.

Step 8--Sew together the same as the lining pieces. You DO NOT leave an opening in the bottom. Again, use a 1/4” seam allowance.

Your sewn outside pieces will look like this.

Step 9--Turn right side out.

Step 10--Using your disappearing ink pen, mark the bag at 3”, 5.5” and 8”.

Step 11--Pin your handles on at 3” and 8”. If you covered your handles, made sure the covered fabric side is FACING the bag

Step 12--Pin the hair binder on at 5.5” on the side of the bag you want to be the BACK. Button will get sewn on later to the FRONT.

Step 13--Sew around entire bag about 1/8” from the top edge.

Your bag will look like this when you are finished with Step 13.

Step 14--Flip bag over to back and make sure your button mark is at least 1” long so you can still see it after the next steps.

Part IV--Putting It All Together

Step 15--Tuck the entire outside bag into the lining.
Make sure the handles and hair binder are in too.

Your bag will look like this.

Make sure you line up your seams on both sides. You don’t want a wonky bag!

Step 16--Pin around the entire top of the bag.

Step 17--Sew around the entire top edge using a 1/4” seam allowance.

Pinch the binder together through the fabric before you sew over it so that it does not separate.

The top of your bag will look like this.

Step 18--Pull outside of bag, handles and all, through the hole in the bottom of the lining.

Step 19--Continue to pull outside of bag until it looks like this.

Step 20--Press and pin hole at bottom of lining.

Step 21--Stitch hole closed either by hand or with your machine.

Step 22--Stuff lining down into outside of bag.

Your bag should now look like this.

Step 23--Press top of bag so lining and outer shell are nice and flat.

Step 24--Pin in place.

Step 25--Sew around entire top of bag 1/8” from the top.

Button should be positioned approximately 3/4” from top of bag.
This  depends on the size of your binder.

Step 26--Sew on your button and you are finished!