Guitar Tote Bag

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I have always wanted to try my hand at an appliqué project so after a bit of research and a little inspiration from Pintrest, I decided to create a guitar tote bag. I love the way this bag turned out! Not only is it really cute but it is lined for stability and durability. This bag is going to last for years to come.

My niece will be the recipient of this guitar tote bag. She received a pink guitar for Christmas and has been taking lessons for the past few months. This will be the perfect birthday present for her!

HOW TO MAKE THE TOTE BAG

SUPPLIES

3 coordinating fabrics (pink, striped and navy blue)
The 3-10 Tote bag pattern from The Inspired Wren

The Inspired Wren has an excellent tutorial on how to make a lined tote bag. Her tutorial is filled with clear pictures and easy to follow directions. The length of the tote bag was increased to fit music books but this was the only alteration made to the pattern.

Before sewing the liner to the outer shell, the appliqué needs to be created.

HOW TO DESIGN THE APPLIQUÉ

SUPPLIES

Silhouette CAMEO
Silhouette Studio Software
Acoustic and Electric Guitar Design

HOW-TO

The guitar appliqué was customized in Silhouette Studio and then cut with the Silhouette CAMEO, an electronic cutting device. It is not necessary to use the Silhouette CAMEO for this project. Instead, find an image of a guitar and manually widen and lengthen the guitar neck.

For Silhouette CAMEO users, please follow the steps below:

In Silhouette Studio, open the Acoustic and Electric Guitar design. The tuning pegs need to be detached from the guitar body. Use the knife tool to do this. When cutting, hold the shift key down to make a straight line.
Now the width and length of the guitar neck will need to be adjusted to the width of the tote bag strap. This can be achieved by editing the points. Click on Point Editing and drag the points to the desired width.

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See the difference between the original and the modified guitars? The bodies of the guitars are the same but the necks are significantly altered.

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Next, prep the fabric. Iron sewable interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric.
Place the prepared fabric onto the cutting mat (interfacing side down) and perform a test cut. This is very important especially when using a thicker material.
Now cut the guitar appliqué using the Silhouette CAMEO.

Once the fabric is cut, you are ready to sew the appliqué onto the tote bag.

HOW TO APPLY APPLIQUÉ

SUPPLIES

Sewing Machine
Thread (Pink)
Outer Shell of Tote Bag

Set the width of the stitch to zigzag and the length of stitch to one of the shortest settings. Be sure to practice first! I chose to sew the zigzag stitches pretty close together with a medium width. A lot of thread is used when sewing appliqué, so choose the settings wisely.

Sewing appliqué is pretty straight forward. Just make sure that one stitch goes on the appliqué and the other stitch goes just over the edge of the appliqué. To avoid a jagged look, try not to make any sudden turns or movements when sewing.

Here is a close up of the appliqué.

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