Grain Sack Market Totes

Hi all.  Happy almost Friday!  Are you as glad as I am that it is the weekend?  I will be in my first show next weekend.  I am displaying my wares at the Ross Garden Tours Marketplace.  I am excited but also a little bit nervous.  As you can imagine, I have been sewing feverishly for the last week or so.  And will continue to do so until next weekend.  (I am taking a short break as my parents are coming up for the evening tomorrow, 6 hr drive.  Pretty great parents, huh? :)

So I thought that for the show I would make a few things that I don't normally have in my shop.  I have been concentrating on grain sack market totes.  I made one quite a while ago but it was before I had a sewing machine.  I am not exaggerating when I say that it took ten hours to complete.  These new ones are much easier, and faster to make, as you can imagine.  

I love this one.  Although my house is not currently decorated in red, I have a deep love of this color.  This particular sack is pristine, just beautiful.  Look at the texture.  Those stripes are bright tomato red!  This one is large but smaller than the next one down, which is enormous.  

I like this one because I rarely see pink and blue stripes on this fabric. I call this tote a  diaper bag because of the colors. But obviously you could use it as a beach bag, to hold groceries, etc.  It is oversized to say the least.  I edged the seams of this one with French linen ribbon.

I like this one below because it is very nubby.  I just cannot seem to enough of these fabrics! 

 I used two layers of the same ribbon imported from France for the straps.  

Each bag has approximately 4" wide side and bottom panels.

I love this one because I was able to keep the original ties intact.  I try to keep as much of the integrity of the sack as possible.  Part of the draw to these items is the history behind the fabric in my opinion.  

This fabric was never made into a grain sack.  

I love the variance in colors between the inside and outside.

Thanks for visiting.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

xo

Michele

PS these totes are available at 

Maison de Michele

Linking at 

Primp's Primp your stuff

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Freckled Laundry's Air Your Laundry Friday

The Farmhouse Porch's Cowgirl up