Red Marine Tote Bag with Royal Heritage Initials:

Photos and instructions for this cool beach bag have been emailed to us by Bobbie B. from Memphis.
Bobbie created this bag using white twill-weave cotton fabric, stiffening fabric, stripped fabric for lining and Royal Heritage embroidery alphabet. Detailed how-to sewing instruction provided below. Scroll down to read it.

And here is another bag in same style, decorated with metallic fringe trim and golden shade initials:

Instructions for making the tote bag:

Step 1: Cut designer fabric and embroider design on it.
Cut out a 2 1/2" square piece on each side of the bottom (see photo).
Cut a stiffening fabric the same size and sew the two pieces together and treat as one from this point on.
Sew sides together (right sides together), sew across bottom omitting the two cut outs.
Now take the two inside corners of the cut-outs and pull them apart making a straight line (see photo) and stitch across.
Turn right side out. Sew on handles.

Step 2: Sew on handles.
Cut out lining, same as the main part of the purse.
Pin and sew on a pocket, as shown on the photo. Using right sides together, sew the side seams (Do NOT sew bottom seam at this point), rather sew only 1" towards center of bottom on each side and then pull out center of the cut-out making a straight line and sew across this.
Right sides together pull lining up around purse and stitch around top, then pull lining up over purse and push to inside and top stitch around top.
Pull lining up out of purse and hand stitch opening.
Push lining back down inside purse.

Step 3: Add sparkling stars or any other decorative element, like the photo shows. Finished!

Click here to find Royal Heritage alphabet.

Tips:

1. If you'd like to use more than one design on your bag, like the photo shows, you may want to align and join them into a single file using your embroidery software. It's MUCH easier than aligning them physically, so if you manage to keep within your largest hoop - go for it. To learn how to join designs, click here...

2. One of the popular and widely available stiffing materials is Timtex.