Finish It Up Friday

Today I made a reversible tote using the tutorial from skip to my lou and for the very first time braved working with laminate.  I'm happy to say although it was a bit unruly, especially when making the straps - I survived and would do it again! The teflon foot wasn't even needed, my machine did just fine with the usual.

I chose this fabric because it's all about Paris and since it was a birthday gift for a friend who's been there and wants to go back - it seemed very fitting.  Plus, she shops the farmers market and a wipe clean surface is the only way to go.  Originally I thought I'd use two different contrasting fabrics so that when you reversed the tote you could actually tell.  But the print is pretty unique and didn't play well with my other choices. 

I didn't want to poke holes in it with pins and couldn't iron the folds of the strap, so I tried just rolling the strap as I sewed and there was a bit of twist that resulted.  For the second attempt I found some office clips to help them stay put.

The modification that I made on the size was to make it deeper so that a stalk of produce wouldn't stick out too much and the measurement for the bottom (step#3) was sewn at 2" instead of 1.5".  What came in handy with that change was the easy to spot target of the #1 and #5 on the ruler to confirm the sides were even. 

We met for lunch and I presented her with the tote which she so sweetly said she liked it. I'm on a kick of making practical and useful hand-mades, how about you?  Our MQG will be using this tute for a Secret Swap with inspiration form the amazing group Mouthy Stitches flickr pool. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday .  Check out her drano quilt with the wonderfully placed dark squares- (I love the backing choice she ended up with) and of course hop around the link ups.