My sister, who owns Overallbeauty.com, requested two reuseable shopping bags with her logo on them for her birthday. I found this great print from Robert Kaufman with all over roses that matches her branding perfectly and these pink butterflys that matched the color. She loves butterflys, which is where that comes from.

The logo was printed out of Photoshop onto June Tailor color fast inkjet fusible fabric and appliqued with a tight zigzag stitch. You need to use interfacing just behind the applique so it doesn't pucker. The bags are lined and have box bottoms with double fold-over fabric handles for strength. They are very easy to make. Both of them took about an hour - start to finish.

To make your own bag:

#1 Fold fabric in half with the fold at the bottom. Cut a two big rectangles taller than they are wide wide. (Fold at the short end) Your dimensions are up to you on how big you want the bag to be. Try 24" wide by 28" tall. Any appliques should be added at this point.

#2 Cut out two 4-5" wide x how ever long you want the handles strips. If you have to piece these, it's fine. Take each strip and fold in half, right sides out. Iron and open out. Now fold the edges to the center crease and iron. Fold in half again. You'll end up with a 2-2.5" wide double thick strip. Edge stitch down both sides. Repeat for other handle.

#3 Back to the big doubled-over rectangles. With short side facing your body, fold in half. Now think about how wide you want the bottom of the bag. For about a 4" wide bottom, cut a small rectangle notch at the base of the folded rectangle, nearest to your body. The notch should be 2" wide by 1.5" high (adjust as you need for whatever width you decide on). Both big rectangles should look like this when unfolded.

#4 Fold the rectangles in half again (short side at the bottom) with right sides together. On the outside bag retangle, sew up both side seams and square off the bag bottoms by folding the fish-mouthes flat and sewing them closed. See Step four of this tutorial if you don't know how to square off the bag bottoms.

#5 On the inside rectangle, do the same thing but leave a 5" gap in the middle of one side seam to turn the bag.

#6 Turn the outer bag inside out. Turn the inner bag inside out and place it rightsides together inside the outer bag. Position the handles so they line up on both sides of the bag They should be INSIDE the two bags between the inner and outer bags (make sure they aren't twisted) with just about 1/2" hanging out over the top seam on each end. Sew the top seam around the top of the bag, back stitching over each of the four handles ends twice for strength. Turn the bag through the hole. Iron and sew up the hole in the lining. Edge stitch around the top of the bag at 1/4" for a nice finished look.

You can make this even easier if you recycle a pillow case. Just cut the handle strips off the top, hem the top and square the bottom (don't cut notches ... just leave the flaps in the bottom of the bag.) Fold the stitched strips for the handles over 1" at each end and attach to outside of bag with a stitched box at each end.

If you want to make bags that zip into their own clever pocket, go see Heart of Mary's tutorial.