Carry your farmers’ market haul in style or create a sweet handmade Mother’s Day gift with a Collapsible Shopping Tote pattern from One-Yard Wonders.
Storey senior publicist Alee Moncy says the Collapsible Shopping Tote from One-Yard Wonders is an easy and practical way to put fun fabrics to use. A few Storey sewists even stitched some up in the office! Check out their handiwork and download the pattern and instructions to try it yourself.
Spring is finally here, and after our long winter, I’m so looking forward to picking up fresh fruits and veggies on Saturday trips to our local farmers’ market. I love seeing what’s come into season each week, and knowing that it was all grown close to home. Plus, I love a reason to use my homemade tote bag, which a group of us here at Storey sewed together last spring when we discovered a fun new line of fabric called Locally Grown.
Locally Grown is designed by Marisa Anne of Creative Thursday. The prints include bees, sheep, chicks, chickens, strawberries, and cherry tomatoes, all of which seemed to embody what was on our mind as spring approached, and what many of our books at Storey are about. Our friends at Andover Fabrics generously sent us some samples of the fabric, and we got busy sewing up some projects from our book One-Yard Wonders.
People chose a variety of the projects from the book, like this ironing board cover sewn by Creative Director Alethea Morrison, appropriately staged here with her own model chick.
Photo by Mars Vilaubi
Many of us chose to sew the Collapsible Shopping Tote (designed by Shelley Crouch), which required just one yard of fabric, a package of ½” double-fold bias tape in a coordinating color, some thread, and a snap or piece of Velcro. We brought our sewing machines to work and set up in the conference room. As we worked, some of the more experienced sewists, like our publisher Deborah Balmuth, taught us how to make a French seam, along with some tricks for stitching the bias tape around the raw edges.
We had a blast checking out each other’s progress, and soon, we had a slew of completed bags. The tote is designed to fold up and tie closed in a small bundle so you can easily carry it with you and have it on hand when you need it.
A stack of finished bags.
Since then, I’ve actually made two more totes as gifts for Mother’s Day and a spring birthday. They’re quick to whip up once you get the hang of it. Download a PDF of the instructions and pattern so you can try it, too, and if you’re out and about with your tote at the farmers’ market or making one for Mother’s Day, tweet a photo to us (@StoreyPub)—we’d love to see!
Happy sewing!
Alee
Pattern and instructions excerpted from One-Yard Wonders © 2009 by Patricia Hoskins and Rebecca Yaker. All rights reserved.
