Make It Mini Series – Stand Up & Tote Notice

Hey bag makers, welcome to the all-new Make It Mini Series! This little series is inspired by my blog post from 2023, Shrinking Patterns. Ever since I shrunk those 3 patterns, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them. I just had to make more!

Over the next 4 weeks, we’ll be sharing with you 4 incredible patterns shrunk by 50% to create the most adorable little creations! Some patterns will be easy to replicate, some will cause a little frustration, and 2 required a little tweaking to the final assembly! So let’s dive right into our very first Make it Mini bag, the Stand Up and Tote Notice tote bag.

Not familiar with the Stand Up and Tote Notice pattern? Find it here!

Supplies I used:

• Stand Up and Tote Notice pattern, small size printed at 50%
• Foam stabiliser
• Lightweight interfacing
• Cotton fabric 
• 3/4” (19mm) magnetic snap

Finished measurements:

7” wide at top x 6” tall x 2 1/2” deep (15.2cm tall x 17.8cm wide x 6.4cm deep).

My strap was cut at 2 1/2” in x 10” (6.4cm x 25.4cm) for a finished strap that is 5/8″ (1.6cm) wide.

Mini Stand Up and Tote Notice Tote

Before we dive into some of the fun stuff, a few reminders about shrinking patterns. Your pattern pieces will shrink easily and accurately when you print. You can check by dividing your test square by your print reduction. For example, my test square measured 1″ (2.5cm) because I printed at 50% or half the standard size. When it comes to your measured pieces, you will have to do the math yourself. 

With my Stand Up Tote being printed at 50%, my pockets were shrunk down to 4 1/2” x 2 1/4″ (11.4cm x 5.7cm), and my straps were shrunk down to 2 1/2” x 10” (6.4cm x 25.4cm). 

When making any mini bag, you have to shrink your seam allowance along with your pattern pieces. The beauty of making the Stand Up Tote is how accurately Lisa has made the pattern pieces. You can easily see where to draw your seam allowance. Plus, because nearly all Andrie Designs Patterns use a 1/2” (1.3cm) seam allowance, shrinking down to 1/4” (0.6cm) still allows for a good seam!

Note: If you opt to go smaller than 50%, I strongly suggest you trace around your pattern pieces so you end up with at least a 1/4” seam allowance, or you risk your bag seams falling apart!

For my tiny tote, I found this adorable Riley Blake Designs fabric (from 2016) in my stash that had blocks in the perfect shape and size for the front pocket. It was like this fabric was made for shrinking the Stand Up Tote! The pocket outline topstitching was shrunk by 50% as well, meaning it sat at 1/4” (0.6cm) in and up from the cut-out corners, so it lands so beautifully around the panel to make my feature print pop!

When shrinking a pattern, you also need to take into account the hardware you use. I only had full-size thick 3/4” (19mm) magnetic snaps. If I followed the pattern for placement of them, they would have been too close to the seam, which would have been a nightmare to stitch the lining to the exterior and topstitch. You’ll want to use your judgment here for placement. If you can, slim magnetic snaps are a much better choice! I placed my snaps 1” (2.5cm) down from the centre.

When it came to stitching the lining and exterior together… oh boy, did my sewing machine and I have words! I HIGHLY recommend drawing on your seam allowance FIRST before sewing (thanks for the advice, Lisa!) because I did not, and it required a lot of stopping to check how accurate I was. Also, with the tiny opening, you will need to play around with how you decide to stitch, from the outside or the interior. Everyone will have a different preference regarding this.

The final topstitching was an ADVENTURE! All those curves, corners and layers? Oh, she was difficult! I highly suggest watching our Reduce Bulk in Bag Seams video before you attempt topstitching something so small. Hammering seams and those corners at the straps makes a world of difference!

If you were unable to use slim magnetic snaps (like me), I recommend stitching from the interior. The female side of the snap WILL get in your way when you stitch from the exterior, and if you are not careful, you could snap a needle as you sew! Once again, drawing on your topstitching seam allowance will help ease the stress of stitching.

Note: I still used a 1/8” (0.3cm) seam allowance for my final topstitching. That is one seam allowance you do NOT want to shrink!

By now, you are probably wondering what original size was shrunk down? I went for the small Stand Up & Tote Notice! If I am going to shrink something, I am always going to pick the smallest choice. I like to live on the wild side! This mini small Stand Up Tote fits right inside the full-size small tote, AND is about the same height as the small Stand Up Clutch! It really is the most adorable little tote!

Next week, we’ll be sharing another tote bag with you, but this one has a recessed zipper! Check out this sneak peek and leave a comment below if you think you know what pattern it might be!

I am so happy with this Mini Stand Up and Tote Notice, even though we had some words along the way. It just has such an adorable quality to it and would make such a fun addition to a little one’s dollhouse! What do you think? Will you try to make a mini tote too? Let us know in the comments below!

Until next week, happy sewing!

Aimee