More handmade gifts: Little Library Totes

(Julia unfolding her tote at Christmas.)

Here are some of the little library totes I made for the grandchildren for Christmas.

It all started with my two oldest granddaughters asking me to make them some little tote bags for church -- just large enough to hold their Bibles and their books for Patch the Pirate Club, plus a few other incidentals like a pen, lip balm, etc. I found a great pattern using a dish towel to make a little tote bag. This is the pattern:Little Library Totes and it's so easy!

Here are the first two I made:
(These two are actually the same size, but one looks much larger because it is closer up.)
I was somewhat surprised how hard it was to find cute dishtowels at a reasonable price, but I found these at a kitchen store in a set of 3 for around $4, I believe.

Later, I had an inspiration. My other grandchildren visit the library regularly. Why not make each of them a tote and give it to them for Christmas, along with a book?

By this point I was finding fairly suitable dishtowels at the dollar store. I found these around the Fourth of July. Wish I had spotted them sooner!

Here's another tote:

And another:

And another:

The only thing I have noticed is that the dollar store dish towels tend to be quite a bit smaller. That means the totes come out smaller, and often kids' library books tend to be large. So use your own judgment on where you buy the dish towels, if you try this.

Here is the tag I designed to attach to the totes so the kiddos (and moms) would know what they were intended for.
You can find more handmade gifts in the archives here and also on my Christmas blog,
Mrs. T's Christmas Kitchen.