Quick Tank-Top Tote

Now that I've done one clothing transformation, I thought I might be up for another. My sister is starting college soon and it was her birthday this week, so I wanted to make her a little tote for her books. She's a bit younger than me (by 9 years), so she can still pull off some of the cute, trendy stuff that I can't. Therefore, I made her a little tank-top tote! I hope she likes it!

This was really super quick. I made it in about an hour, and that included all my trial and error process (about half-way through I realized I did a few steps that were COMPLETELY unnecessary). What you will need:

-Two identical tank tops (mine were from Charlotte Russe)

-coordinating thread

-any embellishments you want to add. I added some silk burnt flowers.

That's it!

Here's my two tanks:

If you bought button-downs like I did, you'll first want to sew down the front to close any gaps between the buttons. You don't want anything falling out of the tote! Sew on one of the existing top-stitches if possible, with coordinating thread:

Next, turn one tank top inside out. Make sure the one you turn inside out is the one you will want on the outside of your tote (probably won't matter if they are identical, but if the gap-stitching from above looks wonky on one, this is a great time to hide it):



Slip the inside-out tank inside the right-side out tank. Line them up really well and pin all the bottom edges together. You'll be pinning through four layers of fabric:

Sew a straight line across the bottom:



 Turn your tote right-side out now. Line up the top of your shirts well and pin all the way around. This is the opening of your tote, so you'll only be stitching two layers together, all around the top:

Now stitch these layers together. Try to make it as neat as possible. My existing top-stitch line was too close to the edge for me to follow it, so I just stitched about 1/8 inch in:

At this point, I cut off the two superfluous straps:

Add your embellishments and you're done! Easy, right? 

This could be made even easier by just using one tank-top, but I wanted mine to be a little heftier, which is why I used two.

And, of course, I have to show off what I made with the Silhouette today. Birthday cards! I actually have two relatives with birthdays this week, so I made two versions:

Happy Sewing!

Linking up to these great parties.