Mini Charm Square Tote with Pockets

This past Friday I had a blast spending the day with my mom & a very crafty family friend. We spent the day shopping, lunching, & laughing! I gave a tote full of yarn to our family friend & she really wanted the tote too. That was something I just couldn’t part with, so I decided to make her, her own tote with mini charm squares! This will be a remix of my Quilted Charm Square Tote I posted about in January 2017. I’m adding pockets & showing you how to use some recycled ribbon for the handle. Let’s get sewing!

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Mini Charm Madness

OK, I admit it, I have a “mini” problem. Not only do I love these mini charms, but I love just about anything “mini”. Well, except coffee cups cause that’s just a waste of time! : D

When I decided to make this bag, I needed to find the perfect mini charm pack. Our crafty friend lives in the sunny state of Florida, so I decided the bag needed to fit in with all that sunshine. This one is perfect!

Lots of blues, yellows, & grays with a white background. I pulled a yellow floral print from my Color Master bundle & a blue stripe that’s been in my stash for ages. That’s looking a like a day at the beach y’all!

Here’s a better picture of the yellow floral, the pattern doesn’t really show up well in the other photos. This is by Pat Bravo & part of her Floral Elements collection. It’s gorgeous!

This is the “sunflower” color of the print, but the pictures online really show it much lighter & don’t do it justice!

For the handle, I’m using some blue/gray ribbon recycled from a blanket purchase. My mother recently gave her guest room a makeover & this came off a new blanket purchased for the room. These make wonderful bag handles!

To recap the “ingredients” for this project:

• 36 mini charm squares or 2 1/2″ squares
• 1 fat quarter for the bottom & interior pocket {cut to two 8 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ pieces & two 5″ x 12 1/2″ pieces}
• 2 fat quarters for the lining {cut to 12 1/2″ x 14″ or use outer pieces after quilting for templates as shown below}
• 2 – 24″ x 1 1/2″ to 2″ wide pieces of grosgrain ribbon

This used up almost all of the charm pack, but that’s okay. I’m a member of the Fat Quarter Shop’s Mini Charm Pack Club, so I’ll be getting 4 more soon! ; D

Sewing the Mini Charms

I decided to do 3 rows & 6 columns of mini charms across the top of each side. There were 7 squares left, which means I got an extra! I could have added one more column to each side, but I like this layout.

Once I had my layout for each side, I stitched up each row in the same manner as I do most row quilts. You can read more about that in my Postcard from Sweden post.

With the rows still connected, I headed to the machine and stitch together 3 rows for each side of the bag. Press & trim these to 12 1/2″ x 6 1/2″. The math says they should measure this anyway, but precuts don’t like to follow the rules! ; P

These are all ready to sew to the bottom, except I need to turn them around. The words are all upside down!

Cutting the Bottom & Pocket

For the bottom panels you’ll need two 8 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ pieces. There are several ways to make the inner pocket, but for this project I cut two 5″ x 12 1/2″ pieces from the same fat quarter I used for the bottom panels.

I wanted to use as much of the fat quarter as possible, so I’m sewing the pocket pieces together along the longest sides. This will give me a lined pocket with finished top & bottom. The short edges will be caught in the bag seams.

Turn the pocket right side out & give it a good press.

Sew the bottoms to the mini charm sets & the front & back are ready for quilting.

Bags like these are a great way to use up scrap batting & I had a strip that was the perfect width – yay!

Quilting & Corners

I did some things a little different for this bag than I did for my original quilted charm square tote. First, I didn’t spray baste, in fact, I didn’t baste this at all before quilting. Since this is so small & I wasn’t doing FMQ or a lot of turning, it really wasn’t necessary. Static cling is very helpful sometimes!

I used Gutermann Natural Cotton thread in navy {#5322} & a wavy stitch on the yellow bottom. The wavy lines are centered on the mini charm seams. For the mini charms, I used Aurifil thread in pale flesh {#2315} &  stitched 1/4″ from the seams in each direction. Both threads are 100% cotton & both are listed as 50 wt threads. Both threads work great for machine quilting in my opinion.

The original bag patterns calls for cutting out the corners before quilting, but I think cutting them out after is better. I’m also cutting 1 1/4″ squares instead of 2″ squares for this bag. This bag is only 12 1/2″ wide, while the original is 14″ wide, so a smaller square is more proportionate to the bag size.

Another thing I did differently is cut the lining out after I quilted the outer bag pieces. This allowed me to use them as a template to cut out the lining.

This also ensured the lining was the correct size since it’s only one piece. Or so I thought, as we’ll see below!

Adding the Pocket & Finishing Edges

I pinned the pocket piece 5″ above the bottom notch. Be sure to top stitch the side that’s staying open before you pin this in place – unlike the picture you see below! ; P

I basted the sides & stitched about an 1/8″ from the bottom edge. Then I marked two lines 4″ apart, centered on the pocket. Stitch along those lines through all layers & don’t forget to backstitch at each end for reinforcement.

You could pull threads to the back & tie them off if you don’t like the look of a backstitch. However, I find pockets last longer with the backstitch.

I decided to use my serger to sew the outer pieces of the bag, which helps the seams lay a little flatter. I used a regular straight stitch for the lining & reinforced the corners with a second line of stitching.

The original bag had 1/2″ seams, but I used 1/4″+ seams for this bag. That just means they were slightly more than 1/4″, maybe 3/8″ or so.

Please see the original posts for how to add the handles & sew the bag together:

• Quilted Charm Square Tote Part 1
• Quilted Charm Square Tote Part 2

All Finished

Here’s the bag all finished up & you may notice the lining peeking out the top. Somehow my lining was a little too long, but I liked the look, so I kept it that way.

I folded the handles up over the lining band & did a double row of stitching around the top.

The pockets are big enough to hold a cell phone or other crochet supplies or even a snack! : )

I also realized after all the fiddling with the layout of the charm squares I didn’t pay an attention to what might meet up at the seams…

Oh well! I hope ya’ll enjoyed the tutorial & pattern & I’d love to see your bag if you make one. Just tag me with #teadoddles on Instagram or share it in my Teadoddles Makers group on Facebook.

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