Target Napkin Gingham Totes.

So!  Arugh.  A lot of time just flew by there.  We are still very much adjusting to the new school schedules and activities and ALL OF THE THINGS.  Between that and a busy last couple of weekends I feel like I'm just trying to keep this crazy ship afloat.  So rather than try to catch up all at once how about a quickie post to shake the cobwebs out?

Look!  Tote bags!

Yup.  I made them.  I saw these adorable gingham napkins on end-of-summer clearance at Target way back in July.  Summer clearance in July?  Yeah I wasn't going to question the insanity of it I just rolled with the discount.

I sewed up 3 sides, added some cotton twill tape handles, and BOOM.  Adorable new bag:

Pictured:  a high degree of difficulty sewing project.

I added a red pocket to the front.  It's just two pieces of red fabric sewn together, turned right side out, and sewn onto one of the napkins.  I added a line of stitching down the middle based on the size of my phone.  Easy solution to the problem of forever trying to locate my phone in the bag of kid nonsense I have to lug around.

I used it CONSTANTLY at the end of summer.  This bag took us to the pool, to Wade Oval Wed, to Edgewater Live, the zoo, the park, etc, etc.  There's something just so refreshingly summer about  red gingham:

For the orange bag I layered one of the green napkins on top of one side to make pockets.

I pinned it all in place, sewed 2 lines down the front to make 3 pockets, and then sewed the whole thing together.  Super quick and now I have lots of places to put my junk:

All the right junk in all the right places...

It also means that there are a few, small, interior pockets as well:

And the extra napkin layer adds a nice weight to the bag:

I haven't had a chance to use the orange bag yet since Fall is upon us.  But it's kindof pumpkin-y, right?

Target - true to form - sucked me in again a few weeks later when they marked down another set of colors:

I couldn't resist. Yay Gingham!

And for a bonus picture here's my dog. 

Remember me?

As a dog in a 3 kid household she has to resort to drastic measures to get notices. Like crashing my photo shoot:

 Poor pooch.