Finishing Touches

One panel done, one to go!

After successfully steeking my new tote bag, the next step was to knit the other pieces (gusset, strap, and button band), and then tackle the finishing work.


The first of the finishing steps was the addition of green accents on the bag. The accents came in the form of green trim on top and green duplicate stitches throughout the front and back panels of the bag. Duplicate stitches are tedious, slow, and in general a big pain. But the green added so much to the bag, that it was worth all of the trouble of the work.

The Carry All Tote, some assembly required!

The next step was the assembly of the bag, first gathering all of the pieces together, then sewing the gusset to one panel, then to the other. After that, adding the strap and the button flap, creating the bag.

A fun spotted lining!

But, it wasn't finished yet. Knit fabric stretches, which can be a problem for a tote bag, but this problem is easily remedied, with the addition of a lining made from woven fabric. The lining adds durability, strength, and shape to the bag. For the lining, I selected a fun black fabric with brown and orange spots. A smarter person would have selected a lighter fabric to make it easier to find things inside the bag, but I'm not going to dwell on that.


After some debating, I also decided to line the strap, to prevent it from getting stretched out of shape during use. Especially if I loaded the bag with anything heavy.


Finally, I added the last touch, a button, which I discovered while searching in my button collection. And, viola, my carry all tote is complete!

The finished product!

I am absolutely thrilled with how this project turned out. It was a quick knit (only 10 days, start to finish), and looks great! I love how the colors turned out (the last picture represents the colors the best). I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I think it should be highly utile and should make a great bag to haul teacher supplies to and from school. Now, if only the job hunt turns out as well as the bag!