{Tutorial} Tea Towel Project Bag

I love vintage tea towels, especially when the illustrations on them are as gorgeous as this covered bridge and fall foliage. Over the years, I've found plenty at the thrift store and estate sales and most of those have been used in our kitchen. They're already old and worn, so they might as well continue that purpose in life, right?

This time, I upgraded my tea towel into a zippered project bag. 

The fabric is so soft and faded that I'm sure it was used in someone's kitchen for many years. Before I cut it into pieces, I used some mid-weight fusible interfacing to stabilize the weave of the fabric a bit.

One of the zippers from that estate sale haul a few years back was the perfect shade of orange to go with those autumn leaves.

And the 1971 calendar looks great on the back. I did have to choose between the year and months or a poem about covered bridges that ran along the very bottom. Working with vintage  fabric always involves tough choices, doesn't it?

I did forget a step when I was shortening my zipper so my lining doesn't have enclosed seams. I think my cross stitch and knitting will survive a few stray threads. I'll do it right next time....and there will be lots of next times because I'm loving the idea of making more tea towel bags.

If you want to see more details about how I made this one, check out the video below.