Felt Tote for Boys or Girls

Ok, so I was going to wait until I got to 1,000 followers on my blog to publish this post, but since I'm only getting about 5 new followers a day, I knew that by the time I reached 1,000, it would be well after Christmas and I wanted you all to be able to have this post so you could make it for your children if you wanted. Merry Christmas and thank you all for your support! I'm so thankful to have you all and your follwing my blog is one of the best Christmas presents I could ever receive!!! In the midst of making Christmas presents for my children and nieces and nephews, I couldn't help but think that my 6 year old daughter probably would like some of the creations I had come up with. Not to mention, she is always looking for a bag to carry her drawing stuff (she is quite the artist) and other such items to church with her, but we always end up throwing all of her stuff into the diaper bag. So I did a google search for "felt crafts for girls" and came across a felt tote that you could buy. I knew instantly that is was something I could recreate, and so here I am typing up this tutorial. This is by far one of the easiest things I have ever made and I hope that I explain it well enough that you all can make this just as easily too.

First, you will need the following

A 20" x 10" piece a felt
Extra felt for the Tote handles
The Flower Template, For Girls (Printed onto cardstock and cut out)
***AND/OR***
The Car Template, For Boys (Printed onto cardstock and cut out)
Felt for the Flower or Car Templates (2 different colors for the flower; 2 different colors for the car + yellow for the headlights and black for the tires and steering wheel.)
9mm Acrylic Jewels (For the Girl tote)
Scissors
A Ruler
Hot Glue Gun
Extra Glue Sticks for the Glue Gun
Sewing Machine & Thread


Step one:

Fold your 20" x 10" piece of felt in half...




Step Two:

Sew together the two sides, leaving the top open...




Step Three:

Make the "handles" by tracing around your ruler and then cut out your handles...






Step Four:

Apply the handles to either side of the top of your tote using your hot glue gun...






Step Five:

Turn the toe inside out...




Step Six:

Trace and cut out your flower or car onto your color choices of felt. ***For Girls...make sure the largest part of your flower and the circle for the center of the flower are the same color, the smaller part of the flower will be a different color. ***For Boys...Make sure your headlights are yellow, your tires and steering wheel are black, and if you want (I did) make the frame of your car a different color from the car's bumper, I know the picture doesn't show it at this point, but thats because I am making more than one bag...




















Step Seven:

Using your hot glue gun, apply the flower or car to your tote. For the flower, you need to make it seperately and then apply it to the tote. For the car you will need to apply the frame and the bumper first, then the steering wheel, headlight, and wheels...








These pictures are from a previous tutorial, but they serve the same purpose in this tutorial...








Step Eight:

If you are making this tote for a boy.... you are done! If you are making this tote for a girl, this is the final step for you and it is also optional. I added this step because my daughter loves jewels and pretty things... So for this step, apply the 9mm acrylic jewels to each of the petals of the largest part of the flower and then one jewel to the center, and you're done! I hope your little ones enjoy this!