Research & Development Tote Bags
We made our first tote bags. It was a pain in the ass... But it was worth every single second
Back in november when we traveled to the north, we had the opportunity to go hunt for fabrics. There are tons of warehouses where you can just show up and buy as much fabric as you want. We quickly skimmed through google maps, and after a few tries, we found a cool warehouse. There they were selling a few kinds of canvas, and one of them caught my eye - it was a 56cm width roll of conveyor belt canvas, 480gsm and extremely sturdy. We went for it already thinking of making some tote bags, so this was the perfect find.I had been researching for a while about tote bags, especially the infamous Boat & Totes from LL Bean. I noticed that they had their own made cotton canvas, and it came in a narrow width roll, just like the one I had found at that warehouse. So I guess I got really lucky.
So we picked up 6 meters of the heavy canvas and also a lighterweight canvas for the handles and bottom reinforcement. We were set!
So my plan was also to dye them and achieve a similar color blocking logic as the iconic ll bean tote bags like the one you see in this pic. I'm not sure why they're so expensive, but I've seen many of them being sold for around 600 euros - its insane. And the more beaten up, the better. I love them, but I'm not rich enough to buy one.
So in order to achieve a similar looking tote bag, I also had to get some woven cotton straps that go behind the color part of the straps. I also bought polyamide sturdy strand, because this project requires that - There were parts where I had multiple layers of this sturdy canvas, so I also had to choose the right needles, 110's.
There were a few things that did not go 100% according to my expectations but I tried to embrace that and carry on:
There were a few things that did not go 100% according to my expectations but I tried to embrace that and carry on:
- one of them was the dyeing. I ended up achieving a Shibori-like tie dye pattern while i want very solid colors. I guess i could have achieved that by dipping the fabric long enough in a tank. However, i just made one or two machine wash cycles with the correct amount of dye.
- the other one was the canvas - although it is still great, after dyeing and scouring it, the canvas lost a bit that sturdiness of the raw fabric. My conclusion is that I have to search for even sturdier canvas. Noted down.
- the time it took to make 4 tote bags was insanely long - but thats my own fault :) I procrastinated quite hard whenever I was about to struggle at some stage of the process. But hey! I guess that's normal. But my conclusion is that I should probably have it manufactured.
Regardless of the outcome I still think the final results are awesome, and I'm quite proud of the build quality, considering I have sewn in more than 5 years! My drive to make this project come to life was satiated. Onto to the next project :)
