Upcycling: How to cover up logos on shopping totes – part 5

Today we will continue our popular series on how to cover up logos on bags with an example of a turtle shopping tote which we recently made. The shopping bag had a big logo on its front side which we hated and so, being turtle and tortoise nerds, we decided to hide it under a tortoise. 😀 This tortoise design is also a very good example of what one can still do even with tiny scraps of fabric, since the tortoise’s scutes (shell plates) consist of tiny remnants of fabric from other projects, which we sewed on top of each other in a decorative way using an embroidery stitch on our sewing machine. The tortoise’s shell and body parts consist of somewhat bigger scraps of fabric from old garments.

The tote also had a slogan printed on its handles, which we covered with a textile gift ribbon in a matching colour. Finally, we embroidered a face and some lettuce on our tortoise design. 🙂 In our opinion, this is a design any turtle or tortoise nerd of any age will love.

Upcycling: ‘Ethno’ shopping totes

Today’s blog post features another upcycling project, namely some ethno shopping totes we made from a pareo. 🙂 The thin, lightweight polyester fabric was ideal for making shopping totes since they can be folded up and be carried around in every pocket, handbag or rucksack. In this way, you will always have a shopping bag to hand when being up and about without the need to use and buy a nasty, wasteful plastic bag. 🙂 Thus, it is an essential item for a ‘zero waste’-lifestyle.

We used a pareo, which we had discovered on a fleamarket, because of its beautiful print, but you can also use any other thin, but sturdy fabric for making a tote, e.g. most scarves can be used for this purpose. To make the bag even more useful, we added a small cotton interior pocket – for keeping coins, keys, a pencil, etc. 🙂

Instructions for making a simple tote:

1. Cut off two strips of fabric along the length of your fabric (scarf, etc.) which ought to be about 5 cm/2 inch wide. These will be your straps. For long straps (like we used for our totes) that will fit comfortably around your shoulders, strips of about 85 cm/33.5 inch will be good.
2. Sew these strips together.
3. For the body of your tote you will need a long rectangle. Cut your fabric to the desired shape, then fold in the middle and sew both sides together.
4. Now sew both straps to the top edge of your tote. Fold the top edge inside and make a wide seam. Your tote is ready now.
5. If you can sew well, you can make a little pocket out of some spare fabric and incorporate it into the top seam.

 

Upcycled bags: How to hide advertising messages and logos

Today’s blog post continues our popular series on how to hide advertising messages or logos on bags.

The bag in the photo is a shopping tote that had a big logo and large advertising print right in its middle on both sides. Since we are against consumerism and capitalism and do not want to walk around as a billboard for products, companies and corporations, we wanted to get rid of it. We had a pretty hat band from a straw hat, which was beyond repair, and which was roughly wide enough to hide the ugly commercial print. We cut the hat band into the correct length and shape and sewed it over the print on both sides of the bag. 🙂 The result is what you can see in the photo.