Tote bags are a great way to carry your shopping and reduce the use of plastics.

Canvas tote bags are a good sustainable solution. They are foldable, can be put in the laundry, and are very durable. However, that last point also makes them less sustainable. Because a tote bag is only a sustainable solution when you use one A LOT. And I mean A LOT. And often you see that people treat tote bags as a single use sustainable solution.

How can we make sure that the canvas tote bags we create are also used?

To prevent a closet full of canvas tote bags instead of plastics.  Using what we have and only producing new materials is the only way to become truly sustainable.

Well: by turning the tote bags we have into tote bags we love, of course!

So we have one quilted tote bag to love, so we can say no to all the others.

In this tutorial you learn the basic steps of turning an old tote bag into a new one using scraps and quilting techniques!

Required:

• Old canvas totebag
• Scraps
• Basic sewing materials for either hand quilting or machine quilting