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 : )