Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Adding snaps to a tote bag - so it closes

I like to keep my card making supplies in this tote bag.  This way, I have everything together and ready to go when I need a quick and easy activity for Girl Guides or day camp.  As a storage solution, though, it's not ideal.  Sometimes the bag will fall over in my closet and the contents will spill out and, overall, it just looks a little untidy, especially with the straps hanging out.




Solution?  Snaps.


I've used them before for a duvet cover.  They come in a strip and you can cut them apart and sew them on using your sewing machine.  No fancy tools required.  My plan is to stitch a few of them along the top of the bag so I can close it and tuck the handles in when I don't need them.

All I had to do was pin the snaps where I wanted them to be along the inside of the top of the bag...


...and then stitch them into place.  I used a zipper foot and a zigzag stitch and went around each snap at least once, if not twice - so in most places you'll see two layers of zigzag stitching on top of each other.


Here's what it looks like when its all stitched in.


And here's the final bag with the straps in and the straps out.  Admittedly, it doesn't look that much different from the 'before' picture, but for the practical difference it makes (i.e. no contents falling out of the bag and the option of tucking unsightly straps out of the way), it's not bad for a few minutes of sewing.

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