1 large tote bag takes 21 small coffee bags to complete. Here is a basic photo step by step of how I make it happen.
It all starts with a bag full of coffee:)
Use the
coffee to make yummie drinks.
(yes I made these)
Take the empty bag and cut off the top. I do this over and over and over.
I pretty much hate this step
This step takes the longest. I have to lay out all the coffee bags and tear off each sticker. The thing is the stickers don't come off easily. In fact I tear off as much as I can then I have to use
Goo Gone to remove the rest of the sticker. This is a messy and
lengthy process. I tend to get little cuts under my nails from the sharp edges of the stickers and I dirty a lot of rags. Just to give you an idea of how long this takes, last night I worked on this step for about 5 hours and came out of it with about 60 perfectly clean ready to sew bags.
Step 5
This is what the bags look like once I get all the stickers off. In this picture I have already sewn some pieces together.
Step 6
This is what the front and back panels look like. There's a lot of lining up and measuring of the bags when sewing these parts together.
Step 7 sewing
This is where I sit and sew and sew for hours. I will usually spend a full day doing prep sewing. This is where I sew the little bags together to make the panels or sides of the tote bags. Then I sew on the velcro and handles. I make sure I have enough parts for each tote and then sew the bags together on another day.
Here I am sewing the piece that covers the velcro. It just looks nicer this way:)
Step 8
This is where I start piecing the all the parts together. Here is a bag with most of the sides put together.
ALMOST DONE!
I WILL ADD MORE STEPS TOMORROW!
