Nottinghill Tote Bag {a finished Teacher gift!}

It's that time of year again, last minute teacher gifts!  I don't know if the rest of you "crafty" mothers are like me and always seem to wait until the last moment to make a teacher gifts, but this makes three years running that I have done it.  We'll see if I keep my track record all the way through elementary school :) This year Sam and I discussed what type of gift his teacher might like and she apparently uses tote bags to take papers home each night for grading and he decided a new bag would be a good idea.  We went through all of the fabric in my stash and he selected this gorgeous Nottinghill home decor weight fabric by Joel Dewberry.

Tote bag

 

I originally bought this fabric to make a different type of bag for myself, but since that hasn't happened in the (roughly 1 year) since I bought it...I  figured his teacher would appreciate it more than my sewing room shelf :)

Nottinghill Tote Bag

I used Amanda (a/k/a Jedi Craft Girl)'s quilted tote bag tutorial that can be found here as a guide.  Since this is home decor weight fabric, I decided not to quilt it and just used a pretty stiff interfacing for the bag outside and no interfacing with the lining.

This bag is such a great size, roughly 17" wide, 14" tall and 7" deep.  I'd say she should be able to get plenty of papers (and a number of other things) in here for hauling back and forth to school.

I also love the inside pockets that go the entire length of one side.  Plenty of room for pens, stickers, cell phone, etc.  You might also see that I snuck one of my new tags on the inside (left of photo) at the base of the pocket.

Tote bag inside

It kind of blends right in...

Tag

...and the best part is what I put on the back.  Now she will never forget who gave her this bag.  I have had a number of people ask me what was on the back of my quilt labels.  As you can see they are blank and I normally write the year I finished the quilt on the back.

Back of tag

Now that this is finished I am completely in love with the fabric and size and think it would make an awesome pool/beach bag.  Thankfully I still have some fabric left and hopefully enough to make myself one.  It was a super quick finish (especially since I had everything I needed at home and no trip to the store was necessary!)

Nottinghill Tote Bag

I hope she likes it.  Are any of you making handmade teacher gifts this year?  If so, I'd love to hear what you made...I can always use new ideas.

Amanda

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Domino Quilt Block {a tutorial}

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Adorn {a finished quilt!}