It's DIY o'clock! 

Don't throw away your blankets with small holes or stains, or your fabric coupons, or even your old totebags! Here's a tutorial to help you reuse them all. 💫

A totebag redesigned as a "winter patchwork", which will make a great first sewing project if you've never tried your hand at it before. 

We recommend more than ever not to throw away leftover fabric coupons when you make a sewing project: in this DIY, they will be perfect to create a handmade gift, and why not personalize it with a large embroidered letter, or fill it ... with other gifts! 😉

👉Forthis DIY you need:

• damaged covers (we recommend that you choose a unit of patterns or shades) 
• additional fabric coupons from previous DIYs! 
• an old totebag
• a sewing machine
• pins
• scissors
• an erasable felt-tip pen

👉How tomake :

Start by measuring your totebag flat. Decide how many rectangles or squares you want to make (here 16 rectangles on each side), as well as their dimensions, and add 1cm of seam allowance everywhere. 

Create a small template from paper. Use it to cut out as many pieces as you need for both sides, multiplying fabrics and patterns. 

Take the time to create a composition for each side of the bag, and take a photo to remember it by.

Then work in rows: still using your photos to designate the order of the pieces, pin together the first two rectangles, sew them together (always 1cm apart). Then pin a third on top, sew, and finally a fourth: you've got a whole line! Now sew a second line, and so on until you have 4 lines per side, so 8 in all. 

Then stitch the lines together to form two complete faces. 

Now for a little "straps" interlude: cut out the straps from your totebag. Measure them, and transfer these measurements to create two new straps with a strip for each (be sure to add 1cm of seam allowance everywhere, here we've made straps 13.5cm wide). Fold wrong sides together, stitch, turn, iron! You've got the straps.

Back to the bag: place your two sides right sides together, pin in a "U" shape (leaving one side open, which will be the top of the bag). Machine-stitch this "U", and turn! 

Insert your old tote bag inside, and use it as a lining! Put it on just as you want it. Match the edges between the new bag and the old one, and pin. Fold the entire top edge of your bag inwards by 1cm and pin. Also position the straps, pin them 2.5cm inside the bag. 

Stitch it all together, 0.5cm from the edge! It's perfectly feasible with a "family" machine, but be gentle with your machine, go nice and easy, and I promise it'll be ok :-) 

To solidify your straps, you can finish off by machine-stitching a square onto the base, then sewing a cross inside it: that way, there's no risk of them tearing! 

And ... TA-DA!!! 💜