TUTORIAL: COMBINED FAUX LEATHER TOTE

// TUTORIAL                            //scroll down for pictures!

Supplies:

- black linen
- faux leather (smooth & velours)
- 1 zipper
- sewing machine (+ zipper foot)

Start with the linen: Cut a piece of 107x39 cm. Hem the edges with a zig-zag stitch. Fold it in half. Measure 9 cm down from the upper (later open) side of the bag. Start there to sew the bag together, sew all the way down to the end. From there, measure 4.5 cm up. Fold the bag like shown in the picture (#4), draw a horizontal line from where you marked the 4.5 cm, sew together (picture #5). Same on the other side. If you turn it inside out it should look like picture #7 (turn it back after checking). 
Cut two pieces of linen for the handles. Mine were about 10x40 cm. Hem the edges, fold in half, sew and turn inside out. You may want to iron the handles afterwards. Mark the middle of the bag, go 9 cm down. Place the ends of the handles about 5 cm from that point. Sew them to the bag like shown in picture #10 and #11. Always double check that you don't accidentally sew together several layers of fabric!! [I also cut two pieces of the smooth leather and sewed them to the outer side of the handles. Try this with separate pieces of fabric first, some of the faux leather materials might be too elastic for that.]
Proceed as shown on the following 2 pictures (top of the bag: Fold in the narrow side once, then the long side twice, stitch). Cut a piece of fabric in the desired size, hem the edges, fold them in and sew to the bag for an additional pocket.
For the outer shell: Cut a piece of velours leather (39x60 cm) and two of smooth leather (39x20 cm each). Sew them together to get one piece in the shape of the black linen at the beginning (smooth leather on top). Sew the sides together. The edges are done exactly the same way like before. Attach a zipper to the linen part - but only sew one side of it to the bag just yet!! Place the linen tote in the outer shell, fold it over so that it covers the part where the handles are attached. Sew together (I left the parts where I'd have had to sew over the handles without stitches because my sewing machine isn't able to sew that many layers of thick fabric). Sew the second part of the zipper to the tote - done!