Sewing Class - Tote Bag

For the last couple of months, I've been taking a sewing class once a week through the continuing education program at a local community college. The three hour classes were structured so that we spent 30 - 45 minutes at the beginning of class talking about some fundamental sewing technique and then we'd use that technique to make a tote bag.

Here's the end result. I think it looks pretty nice. We used interfacing on the body of the bag and on the pockets and I think that it created some bubbles I'm not super crazy about, but that's because I'm a bit picky.

I didn't take an interior shot of this one, but you can kind of see that my lining is a light turquoise with white polka dots if you look closely by the pull tab of the zipper.

So that's the one I did during class. Since I believe in the power of homework, I gave myself homework in the form of using the same pattern on a tote bag at home. Here's how that one turned out.

I think I should have used the light blue as the base for the bag and the flowers for the pockets, but I guess you can't go undoing your fabric choices when you realize you're not super crazy about the color.

You can't really tell, but the lining has pockets! I customized a tiny little pocket for Blistex tubes!

I'm currently taking the next class in the series. I got to pick my own project and I'm working on a wrap skirt (wrap skirts require So. Much. Fabric.) with a lining and pockets. I'll keep you posted.