Have you ever made/bought a gift for someone, but you had the hardest time giving it away because you loved it so much yourself? This Burlap Coffee Bag Tote I am about to show you was one of those gifts. 

Remember when BurlapFabric.com generously gifted us the motherload of burlap materials? No? Read about it here. Since our magical box of burlap has arrived, Rona, Lisa, and I have been busy with burlap, and if you know me/read my posts, I freakin’ love burlap. Anyway, in our shipment of burlap, we requested these awesome used (they are authentic, for I found some rogue coffee beans in my bag) burlap coffee bags. 

For my first coffee bag craft, I knew I wanted to make a tote bag out of the coffee bag and use the jute webbing as its straps. 

I won’t lie to  you all, though. Because this project involved sewing, no pattern, and me, I enlisted the help of my mom (thanks, Mom, you’re the tops!) AND a lot of time (an entire Sunday with some interruptions and supercute distractions)

Because this burlap coffee bag tote was made with love, care, and trial and error, unfortunately I do not have my usual step-by-step instructions. If you know your way around a sewing machine, you can use my mom and my bag and general steps to help you construct yours. However, stay tuned, as both my mom and I loved this bag so much that I am sure that we will be making more, and then we will have an actual pattern. Sorry to disappoint!

Here’s a quick run-down of what we did.

1. Decide your desired size for the tote. Because I was trying to use the existing stitching, I had to sacrifice some of the print on the bag, which at first was a total bummer. 

2. Choose and measure the size you would like the base of your bag to be and pin and then sew. 

3. Find something sturdy/flexible for the base/bottom of your bag. We looked at the construction of a lot of bags, and found that the bags we liked had some structure in the base.  For this I used a placemat, and I cut it to size. 

4. I wanted a shape to my bag (squarish), so we folded a triangle off the ends of the base of the bag. We reinforced the base of the triangle by sewing it, and then we tacked it up the sides of the bag. 

5. Line the inside of the bag with burlap  or any other fabric. 

6. Add straps. I decided that I did not want my straps to go around my bag. We reinforced the straps at their base with an “X”

7. Add a pocket liner. I love pockets in a bag, otherwise it becomes a black hole for my things. To make this easy, I suggested that we just fold the fabric up 3/4 of the way and make the pockets that way. 

8. Sew pocket liner in.

9. Add some structure to the top of the bag at all four corners by pinching the corners and sewing. 

Would this not make the best beach bag? Or tote for school? Or tote for a weekend away? Or….

And for your entertainment,  I did take an awkward photoshoot with it. Proof that the bag is cute, but that I take some horrible pictures. 

I do not even know– I guess I won’t be doing any posts on how to take the perfect picture!

You’re welcome (or not) for that last pic : )

Remember that time, I tried to cross-stitch a heart onto a sweater? It was a pathetic attempt about which I should be embarrassed, but here I am referencing it again. Instead of leaving this venture behind me, I decided to give it another go with embroidery on tea towels.

My friend Carrie and I were meandering through JoAnn Fabrics the other day (read: I was wandering around touching everything while Carrie was putting up with my glacial pace with the patience that only a mom of three and my friend can have), and we happened upon these adorably cute embroidery iron-ons. I assured Carrie that we would be successful even though she has heard me utter these words before and knows they are not always the truth, so we left the store with two books full of iron-ons.

I am glad to report that while embroidery is not the quickest thing, it is relatively therapeutic and relaxing (keep in mind that sometimes I use those two words to describe solving an algebraic expression, weeding a garden, or cleaning a kitchen). Seriously, it is oddly relaxing.

I “whipped” up my first tea towel for my forever friend Gayle, who just bought her first house! I thought a set of tea towels and a nice kitchen handsoap made a nice housewarming/hostess gift.

Here’s a quick little tutorial. If you are familiar with embroidery, this is not for you.  However, if you have never embroidered anything and want some pointers from this newb, then read on, my friends.

What you’ll Need:

- Iron Ons– Like these. — That Aunt Martha knows a good vintagely cute iron-on when she sees one.

Aren’t these iron-ons ridiculously cute?

- Tea Towels– I made Gayle’s from Ikea towels, but JoAnn Fabrics sells a pack of them, or I would hit up Marshall’s to find some plain tea towels.

Ikea Tea Towels

-embroidery floss

- embroidery needle

- embroidery hoop

-scissors

- time

OR

Aunt Martha’s also sells ball point paint, so you can capture the look of embroidery without the time or needles. I haven’t tried it, but I can imagine it is just like coloring or tracing, which sounds like fun to me.

What you’ll do:

-Select and cut out the image you would like

- Follow the directions in Aunt Martha’s books. She is one smart lady.

- Put your fabric in the embroidery hoop.

Now here are some tips…

- Don’t thread your needle with the entire thickness of the embroidery floss; split the floss. you will see that there are six strands twisted together to make the floss. You don’t need the thickness of all 6 strands.

See how you can adjust the thickness of your thread?

- Don’t tie a knot in your floss to begin. You can secure your stitches with a locking stitch.

- Try to be neat on the non-displayed side. While it won’t look like the front, you don’t want it to look like a hot mess. So, try to be a little organized. Be calculative in your next stitch.

This is the backside of the towel. I am trying to be neat. It won’t look perfect, but I want it to look nice

This will take some time, but the towels come out adorably cute!

I packaged this towel up along with three blank tea towels and a cute mason jar hand soap and gave it to my friend Gayle. I thought it was a sweet housewarming gift.

I am currently in the process of working on my next tea towel. Would a video tutorial be helpful to anyone? I’m no expert, unless you consider an expert a person who has completed one embroidery project…