Where I live in Michigan, we have an uh-mazing fireworks display over the river within walking distance of our house. Each year we gather up friends and family and trek down to the riverside. I designed this Red, White & Burlap tote bag with a flag pocket to carry our picnic blanket and other goodies in Independence Day style.
This worked out to be a great scrapbusting project! With all the nautical flags and pillows I make for my Etsy shop, I have lots of duck cloth in primary colors. I rounded up some red, white and blue and some white buttons and some burlap I had on hand from Hadley’s first birthday party.
I started by cutting the basic flag design – I wanted a little bit of a rustic look, so I didn’t worry about clean edges. This website helped with getting the correct proportions for the flag. I stitched the stripes down with a zig-zag stitch and the blue with a straight stitch.
Then I added the buttons by hand.
I flipped the top part of the white over the flag right sides together and stitched around, leaving an opening to turn. Then I clipped corners and turned it right sides out. All that was left was to pin it in place on the front of the piece of burlap destined to be the front of the tote and sew around three sides.
I used the raw edges of the burlap on the tote and some great Americana fabric from my stash for the interior. I just eeked out enough for this project – love it when that happens!
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
Love the bag – too cute!