Tote bags and aprons!

All week I have been working on Tote bags and aprons to sell at the farmers market. I had 9 aprons and 5 tote bags today. We got all set up and we took some pictures and it started pouring rain and we had to hurry and bundle everything up and put it away. Only two ladies stopped and we were already getting things into the truck out of the rain. I hope they come back tomorrow. Since we were home early, I made two more totes today. I've been learning and now I'm lining each tote to make it sturdier. I'm starting to put a divided pocket on the front of the bag. I'm going to make a garden apron with pockets, too.
Here are the pictures.






and one of dr's honey and barbecue sauce that he's going to be selling now. All made in Texas, of course.


dooley

 

Love those tote's Dooley! I didn't know DR made BBQ sauce! Do you have a close up of the label?

 

dr doesn't make the sauces. We're just trying to find ones made in Texas to sell as an adjunct to the farmer's market. dooley

 

Oooohh! Dooley those are so cute! And learning as you go to line them and other things to make them sturdier. Shoot you'll have to apply for a patent. I hope the rain holds off tomorrow and you come home empty handed. The BBQ sauce and honey are a good idea too. You will be attracting customers for all kinds of goods. Good luck to you!

 

They all so pretty.I got to see them up
close and look real good and feel of the material.I want them all.

 

You've been busy! I like your aprons and bags. They make such a lovely display. So sorry about your ran, dooley.

 

What a shame about the rain, Dooley. Darn it!
Well, I hope that it is a bit kinder the next day.

You know, we use alot of tote bags here for all manner of things, especially grocery shopping because we don't have paper bags and we don't like using plastic ones...and you know what one of the very most importatnt things is--it is a tote bag whose handles (or straps...I don't know how you call them) ---whose handles go all the way under the botytom of the bag and back up the where the hand holds it.

This one little thing is for us the essentisl criterium. We (and perhaps most people) tend to 'overl;oad' our totebags and put alot of stress on where the handles are attatched to bag itsself...so a handle that extends all the way round gives that tote bag an enormous amount of strength.
I don't know if it would be a selling point there, but it is for us.

Anyway, here's wishing you and your man lots of sucess.

 

Thanks, Sjoerd! I'll have to think about the handles. I make the lining and the bag and sew them together so I'll have to figure out how to do the handles going all the way around before I sew them together. It sounds like a good idea. I've been doing and X and sewing it across top and bottom when I sew on the handles. I know about handles breaking on things. The stores sell these fiber bags for groceries now. You are supposed to bring them back. Mine generally end up in the kitchen drawer and I forget to take them. Maybe I'll make myself some tote bags, too.
dooley

 

I love Sjoerd's handle idea!! If I had been there I'd have bought an apron for sure! I'm kind of an apron collector I'm the only woman I know that still uses an apron

 

I hadn't realised that those totebags were lined. Very nice touch, Dooley. I guess that if you did incorperate a handle that went full circle that it could go between lining and outer shell if you wanted to hide it.
I don't reckon there really is a need to do that, as if it is external, then folks can see right away the tote bag's strength.

Anyway Dooley, I enjoyed seeing your display of goods as well as the sauces of your man.

 

I've been thinking about those handles and I think when I make the outer bag I can put the handles on when the bag is still flat and then add the liner. I can sew them up almost to the top and after I add the liner I can finish them. They would go around and come up to the top and the seam is on top or on the side or under the bag? I'll have to see if I can find one to look at. Then, I will know how it goes. I don't generally need a full pattern if I have a sample to look and see how it goes. dooley

 

I think that you will need to make the handles in the form of one big circle, which will form loops (handles) on either side, if you see what I mean.
If you tried to make it from two strips going from side to side, then the bag wouldn't open, would it?

Do you intend to sew the circular strap onto the outer bag to keep it in place? Sewing an "X" right and left of each of the two handle loops would further strengthen it, wouldn't it?

The more I think about your tote bag, the better I like it. The colours that you use are also attractive, I find.

What an exciting hobby you have.

 

Yes, the handle would be a big circle sewed onto the bag. Does the seam go on the bottom of the bag? I mean where I sew the circle together. dr thinks webbing handles would also strengthen the bag instead of handles from matching material. That would add to the cost a bit. I could always cover the webbing if I wanted the handles to match. He says you can buy rolls of the webbing material. I'll have to look for some. I'll think on it some more and look around when we go shopping. Some times you find things where you aren't looking for them. dooley

 

Yes, I would put the seam at the bottom. As long as it is stitched together securely, so it won't let go,
I don't know what "web handles" are.

I looked at your bags and aprons again--they really DO look nive, Dooley.