Make It Mini – Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag

Hi bag makers, welcome back! This week for our all-new Make It Mini Series, we are sharing what might be my most favourite mini bag that I have ever made – the mini Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag!

I chose this sweet little tote because it had a little bit of everything in it to sew. From a recessed zipper to zipper pockets and the tiniest little strap ever with 1/2” (13mm) d-rings, everything’s just so small! I also absolutely adore the piecing on the front of this bag and wondered just how sweet it would look made mini, and boy, did it turn out so squishy and sweet!

Not familiar with the Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag pattern? Find it here!

Supplies I used:

• Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag pattern printed at 50%
• Foam stabiliser
• Lightweight interfacing
• 1/2” (13mm) d-rings
• 3 dress zippers that were 5” (12.7cm)
• Cotton fabric

Finished measurements:

4 1/2” wide x 4 1/2” tall x 1” deep (11.4cm wide x 11.4cm tall x 2.5cm deep).

My strap was cut at 2” x 13 1/2” (5cm x 34.3cm) for a finished strap that is 1/2” (1.3cm) wide.

Mini Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag

With such tiny hardware and straps to work with, I opted to sew on the strap before the final assembly. Trying to get a whole tiny bag under my sewing machine for 1/2” (1.3cm) straps would have been difficult. The strap was tiny enough to stay out of my way during the exterior assembly, so it was worth it!

When you are working with a recessed zipper, there are some adjustments you have to make. Most dress zippers are a standard 1” (2.5cm) width, and when you shrink your pattern pieces, your usual zipper seam allowance will take up so much space. You will need to increase the width of the zipper panels to make up for it and get to a 1/4” (0.6cm) seam allowance (or to whatever seam allowance you are now using). My recessed panels were originally supposed to be 1/4” x 4 1/2” (1.6cm x 11.4cm), but I increased the width to make them 1” x 4 1/2” (2.5cm x 11.4cm) to accommodate the zipper and the seam allowance.

I also had to adjust the zipper tab to keep it to the original pattern size. If you shrink it, it just won’t fit! I placed my tab 3/4” (1.9cm) away from the edge of the recessed panels. You don’t need it far away for such a wee bag!

With such tiny panels for the exterior pieced panels, you definitely want to draw on your seam allowance and glue the fold in place along the panel curves. After clipping the curves, I like to use the pattern piece as my guide to fold and press the seam down before gluing and ironing it. 

With such tiny pieces, they really looked “puffed” when topstitched on the foam. It gives such a glorious squishy texture to the exterior of the bag!

When it comes to stitching the lining to the exterior, this time I DO recommend stitching from the inside. With the recessed zipper, you have less room to stretch and move things around. Sewing from the inside allows you to keep an accurate seam!

Topstitching on this bag was MUCH easier than the Mini Stand Up Tote. I still had to hammer flat the side seams so they were easier to sew over, but the gentle curves were so much easier to sew!

With such a tiny recessed zipper, I like to tuck in the zipper tab end so it’s hidden inside! It looks much cleaner on this wee bag!

This sweet little bag makes me sew happy! You can just see the little zipper pocket inside when you open it up to look inside! How cute!

This mini Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag looks so adorable next to the full-size one! It really looks like a mama and me set!

Best of all? The mini version of this tote is also SMALLER than the Mini Shades Pouch! It’s hard to believe you can get much smaller than the pouch for piecing, but I did, and I adore this sweet little family of bags so much!

Next week well be sharing with you a different kind of bag, she’s a hidden gem in the shop. Check out this sneak peek and feel free to leave us comment as to what bag you think it is!

I am so thrilled with this Mini Shades of Yesterday Tote Bag. I just adore the squishiness of the front panel and that adorable little strap! Will you try making this perfectly pieced bag? Let us know if you do in the Andrie Designs Patterns Group on Facebook!

Until next week, happy sewing!

Aimee