Smaller Tote

Now that I've been using my big totes to carry stuff home from the grocery, I'm getting less plastic bags... which is good, but I was in the habit of using one of those plastic bags every day to carry my lunch, to work. I also used them to line the small trashcans in the bedroom and bathroom... now my supply is dwindling. So I decided to make a smaller tote the size of the plastic shopping bags:


I still get plastic bags at the store (I tell them to put my raw meat in plastic, I don't want it to leak on my big totes) plus things like bread, bagels, squishable stuff doesn't work in the big totes. Anyway, I looked online, and found lots of free patterns for a smaller tote. Here's the pattern I used for the shopping bag itself and here's the site I used for the folding pocket.

I made the solid green pocket to fit a 1 liter bottle of water, and I wanted the main tote big enough for a Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine (what I take to lunch every day) plus an orange or a yogurt, a diet coke, a book or two, a sewing project... etc. :)


And here's the neat part - when empty, you can roll the bag up, and that same pocket that holds the liter bottle becomes a wallet type closure, so I can remember to put it in my purse and take it home.


Now that I've made a utility one for my first attempt, I think I'll get my pretty batiks out and make a fancy one. :) That flap that laps over the pocket to close it all up was a little long, it's not a tight roll like it could be. I also think I'll put a teeny snip of velcro on the bottom so the flap doesn't hang loose - like you can see it does on the doorknob pic.