Finished Charlie Tote

 I popped into the Workroom yesterday for a break from school and spotted this fantastic fabric from the David Textiles Victoria & Albert Museum line. We're seeing Brian's family tonight to celebrate his mom's birthday, and both his parents are big on wine...

 So I thought I'd whip up a birthday tote bag! I used the free Charlie pattern from BurdaStyle, and made a second bag for the other side out of some vintage poly/cotton blend I picked up at the thrift store. It's a cute blue/green floral print, and I'm sure you'll be seeing it again since I have about 7 yards of it. This bias tape is also thrifted. Hurrah! Here's a peek at both sides:

If you want to make your own reversible Charlie bag, just cut the bag body piece twice each from two different fabrics. Sew up the side and bottom seams, and join the handle tops on both bags. You can either sew the two bags most of the way around with the right sides facing, then turn the bag right side out and stitch up the leftover hole, or you can do what I did. I put one bag inside the other, wrong sides facing, then machine basted the top seams together. I then trimmed the seam allowances away, and sized the edges for double fold bias tape. I stitched the tape together to make three loops, pinned it on, then sewed it. I used almost a whole package of 2.75m for the edges, with about 1.5" to spare. I left out the pocket to fold the bag up into.

I think it's a pretty good basic tote pattern, and I'm definitely going to make some more for gifts out of all the IKEA upholstery fabric I have in my stash. I hope she likes it!