Sewasaurus Rex Collapsible Tote Bag

Yesterday afternoon, I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of meeting up with the incredible Oonaballoona. I have to confess, I felt a little bit of awkward-kid-gets-an-invitation-to-go-to-a-cool-kid's-birthday-party anxiety. After all, Oona's Oona Does It! series is pretty legen -- wait for it -- dary, which is how I ended up being sucked into reading (and being reduced to giggle tears) her blog, and I haven't looked back since. So I was a little nervous when we started throwing emails at each other about meeting up to do some fabric shopping in the Fashion District. Would she like me? Would I be able to stammer out anything other than incoherent sentences about cats? Would my dress of the day not contain enough bright colors? I realized that the obvious solution was to bring her an offering. Like when the awkward kid is only allowed to eat lunch at that table in the cafeteria because she can do all the math homework.* Well, being that I have her (well, actually Ruggy) to thank for the term "sewasaurus rex," I decided to make her a thank you bag. And fill it with the Oona-est fabric I had in my stash.

Yup, it's one of those newfangled collapsible bags that are so popular among plastic bag eschewers.
Confession: that orange jersey was donated to me, and I was pretty sure that I would never use it.

This is what the bag looks like when collapsed in on itself. This is not what it looks like with the fabric inside, though.
It is not a Tardis or a wizarding tent.

She was really so gracious and kind about my little arts-and-crafts bag, not to mention ridiculously fun to hang out with. We traipsed around the Fashion District enabling each others' sewing purchases, talking up a storm about sewing and cats (yes, Walnut managed to sneak into the conversation), and reminding each other that "it's only $1/yard!" at crucial points. All in all a satisfactory day. Anyway, if you would like to be as cool as Oona and also sport this bag, here's how I did it:

Sorry about doing the whole thing in red pen; it's what I had. Also, gray shading = wrong side of the fabric, and the other colors were just to distinguish between the pieces. Obviously you are allowed to make a non-blue strap and non-pink outer bag.

Go here to get the download for the Sewasaurus Rex image. In the spirit of full disclosure, this is just the outline of the T.rex from Dinosaur Comics, blown up and traced by me, with the addition of a seam ripper. Once you print it out, you can trace it onto freezer paper with the use of the cheapest lightbox ever: tape and a sunny window.

Trace onto the non-shiny side of the freezer paper.

This is what mine looked like while it was drying.

I won't go into detail about making freezer paper stencils here, as there are quite a few out there on teh interwebs, but for a brief overview, I cut out the design, ironed it onto my fabric (a donated 70/30 poly-cotton blend IKEA curtain that was too hideous for apparel), then went to town with fabric paint (Tulip brand from Joann's). I free-handed the words "SEWASAURUS REX" in fabric marker, ironed to heat-set all the pigments, then got to work making the bag. This project also marked the first time I have ever made bias tape myself, and gosh, I don't know what I was afraid of. It's so easy and kind of addicting; now I'm sad about all the times I wasted money buying the packaged bias tape.

That moment when you peel off the freezer paper to reveal the finished image is kind of magical.
Also, ignore my blotchy paint job. It was only my first time ever making one of these!

The bag, all sewn up, before I added the drawstring.

With the drawstring.

This is what the inside looked like. Confession: I used blue because that's the only color where I had the correct combination of fabric paint, seam binding, and suitable ribbon.

So there you have it -- you, too, can have a collapsible bag that will fit in your purse for spur-of-the-moment fabric buying! And obviously you can put whatever you want on your bag; you don't have to put a seam-ripping dinosaur if you want to say, make a nice one for your mom for Mother's Day.

*At no point did Oona label herself as or act like the cool kid who copies homework. All my insecurities about my self-perceived awkwardness are my own, and Oona is a lovely, lovely person.