The Soft Stripey Bucket Tote

When I create my designs, I have a few criteria that I have to work with. This is good! I am one of those people who can be very creative, but if you said to me, “make anything you like”, you would see my eyes glaze over and a look of terror take over my face! Well, not quite, but let’s just say that when Lego kits were introduced, instead of just buckets of Lego, I was very happy. The same with design: I am great at solving a puzzle, but I need to have that barrier there before I can really get going.

So the criteria are: must fit in the subscription box, must use a maximum of three fat quarters and a half metre of craft cottons, and the instructions need to fit six steps. This year, due to the ongoing pandemic, I also gave myself an extra constraint: must be useful now, in our current lock-down life. So the next few patterns will fit into this theme.

This month’s project is a shopping tote, not the kind you would carry around all day on a big shopping trip, but the kind you can keep in the car, and grab (along with your mask) because you need to pop into a shop quickly, while you are out. Or that you can put a parcel into, to take to the post office, then sling in the car afterwards. It is sturdy, as it is lined and interfaced, and because of the method of construction, and it has strong webbing handles. And best of all, it can be as pretty or vibrant as you like, because it is designed to use multiple fabrics arranged in stripes.

In the tutorials section of this site is a hack for the handles. I designed this bag with curves, which includes how the handles sit. It’s nice to have options though, and my handle hack shows you a different way to stitch the webbing in place.

I hope your version of this pattern lifts you up when you pop to the shops! Useful can be joyful.