Tutorial - vintage pillowcase to bag

This is the long awaited tutorial detailing how to make your own shopping tote bag from a vintage pillowcase. The blogpost i wrote about the design a few years ago (HERE) has had thousands and thousands of hits and many of you asked for a tutorial....here it is: (in timely fashion...they make great holiday gifts!). If you are looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway post, click HERE.

Take your vintage pillowcase. Choose one in good condition. Thrift shops have them in abundance.

Iron pillowcase to begin. Fold your pillowcase in half and cut the shapes above out of your case. You will have two scrap pieces, one of these will become the pocket. Set them aside for now.

Unfold the top of the pillowcase. (The bit that would fold over to secure your pillow inside the case)
Pin as above to create the bag's handle.

 Sew handle. I make two seams to make it super secure.

 Turn inside out. You will use the existing side seams.

 Fold over and pin to create a hem out of the raw edges.

 Sew.

Box the corners. This is pictured above. For those new to boxing corners I will post a seperate blogpost detailing the process of boxing corners and link it to here.

Turn your bag right way out and iron. You can see the nice rounded edges the boxing gives the corners here. This is the basic bag, but if you like you can add an inside pocket:

 Take one of the scrap pieces, zigzag the edges and iron to create a pocket. Pin and sew.

Add a bit of velcro to keep the pocket's contents safe. This way you have a seperate pocket so keys, phone and wallet won't go walkabout.

And there! You made a tote bag out of a vintage pillowcase. I keep one handy so i don't have to use plastic bags. I don't want to contribute more plastic to the world, and besides, these look much cooler.
Whether you are carrying shopping, library books, garden produce, finds from thrift stores or swimming gear...it's perfect. I love easy projects with a beautiful outcome...don't you?!
I design all of my GrowMama gear, this has been a big favourite over the years...I hope you enjoy it too.
xx

Update: in response to all your requests, i have posted a tutorial on how to box corners, the technique i use in making this bag. Click HERE for the boxing corners tutorial.  And for all those lovelies who have been bugging me to add a Pinterest Button...i have!