When fall finally shows up in my area (central Texas seems to be a month behind), there’s a strong urge to not just ease into fall colors and decor, but jump head first into Halloween extra early. So, please be warned that the lines between early fall and Halloween will be blurred for a while (until Halloween takes over completely like a zombie-virus). Today I want to share another simple sewing tutorial on how to make a fall plaid and faux leather crossbody bag. Can you believe it was made from a simple kitchen towel?!

Oh yeah! Who knew a simple towel could look so good?! Follow along below for the full tutorial.

The Supplies:

• This kitchen towel (it comes in 4 colors) or another thick canvas towel
• 5″ of tan faux leather (optional) for the bottom of the bag
• A brown crossbody strap from my etsy shop
• 5″ of 1/4″ thick elastic or small piece of folded faux leather
• Sewing machine, thread, scissors, teflon foot, and pins

Start by cutting your faux leather into a 5″ strip that covers one side of the kitchen towel all the way up.

Using a teflon foot, stitch across the top of the faux leather (on the edge) to attach it to the kitchen towel. Fold the towel over with right sides together and pin. About 3″ down from the top of the bag on each side (the end opposite where you stitched the faux leather), pin in a loop of elastic or folded over faux leather with the loop facing in. This will be where you add your crossbody strap once the bag is sewn.

Now it is time to stitch around the sides and bottom of the bag. Make sure to give at least a 1/2″ or larger seam allowance so you avoid sewing over the hemmed parts of the towel.

Cut off the excess fabric around the seams and turn the bag right side out.

The last step is to fold in the top portion of the fabric so that the top opening of the bag is slightly above the two pieces of elastic.  Top stitch the top of the bag to hold the fabric in place, then clip on the crossbody strap.

Feel free to add a snap or velcro closure if you want, but it works totally fine with out one (or ‘totelly’ because it’s a tote? No? Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen).