Bucket Tote

Cut one piece of the exterior fabric at 10” x 24.5” using either a ruler and rotary cutter, or measured and cut out with a pair of scissors.

Cut one piece of the interior fabric at 12” x 24.5” using either a ruler and rotary cutter, or measured and cut out with a pair of scissors.

Cut one piece of fusible fleece at 10” x 24.5” using either a ruler and rotary cutter, or measured and cut out with a pair of scissors.

Print off the template for the bottom piece. Be sure to print it at full scale or 100%. Cut out the template.

Trace the template with a removeable marking pen on a piece of exterior fabric, a piece of interior fabric, and a piece of fusible fleece. 

Cut out all three bottom pieces using a pair of scissors or tool of choice.

Place the 10” x 24.5” fusible fleece piece on the matching sized wrong side of the exterior piece. Iron it on according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Be sure to iron on the bottom fusible fleece piece to the bottom exterior piece as well at the same time.

Place the printed design template on the exterior piece where you’d like it to be. Try to keep it at least 1-1/2” away from the top and 1” away from the bottom. We chose to put our design in the center of the piece, which was approximately 12-1/4” in from the sides. 

Extend your placement lines using a ruler and a removeable marking pen.

Add medium weight cutaway stabilizer to the back of the exterior piece and hoop using the placement lines to center it. 

Load the file and secure the hoop on the embroidery machine. Center the file using the placement lines to make sure it’s exactly where you want it.

Stitch out the entire file, making sure to complete any color changes. 

Unhoop the exterior piece. If you are doing more than one design on the bucket tote, like how for our sample we decided to personalize the tote by adding a name with an embroidery software, you will have to repeat the above steps to embroider all additional designs.

Trim the excess stabilizer from the back with a pair of scissors. Be sure to not cut or remove the fusible fleece.

Press the front of the exterior piece with an iron and pressing cloth to get the design and exterior piece as smooth and flat as possible.

Using a ruler and a removable marking pen, mark a line 1” down from the top of the backside of the interior fabric piece. 

Clip or pin the interior and exterior pieces together. Be sure to have line that was drawn on the backside at the top where it is being clipped or pinned together.

Sew along the marked line to sew the two pieces together. 

Flip the lining over the stitched line and press with an iron and pressing cloth. Do not press open the seam

Gently fold the entirety of the bucket in half, matching right sides to right sides. Clip or pin up the side making sure to match the exterior with exterior, and match the lining with lining. Leave a 3-4” opening on the lining side.

Sew the seam with a ½” seam allowance. Remember to not sew the opening shut as it will be used to turn out the bucket in a later step.

Using an iron and a pressing cloth, press open the entire side seam. This is easiest to do using the narrower side of the ironing board and doing half of it at a time.

Pin or clip the bottom circle exterior piece to the bottom of the exterior. It should form a cylinder or bucket-like shape when pinned. We find that pins work easier than clips, but use what works best for you.

Stitch around the bottom of the bucket with a ½” seam allowance. It is easier if you keep the circle side of the bucket facing up while sewing. Take your time and follow the circle while sewing.

Trim the seam allowance on the bottom of the bucket with a pinking shear. If you do not have a pinking shear, you can just trim down the seam allowance with regular scissors. You can also cut small notches around the bottom once you’ve trimmed off some of the seam allowance.

Repeat the pinning and sewing process with the bottom on the lining side of the bucket. Be sure to trim down the seam allowance in a method of your choosing.

Pull the entire bucket through the opening to flip it right side out. 

Find the opening in the lining and use a needle and thread to sew the opening shut. If desired, you can also use a sewing machine to close the opening as well.

Gently press the top of the bucket with an iron and pressing cloth. Like before, this is easiest done on the narrower end of the ironing board. This will help make sure that everything is nice and crisp.

Top stitch the top of the bucket where the exterior and lining meet on the outside. This will help keep the lining in the bucket while giving a nice finished look to the exterior.

Cut out one piece of the exterior fabric at 4.5” x 21” using either a ruler and rotary cutter, or measured and cut out with a pair of scissors. This will be for the handle.

Cut out a piece of fusible fleece at 3.5” x 21” using either a ruler and rotary cutter, or measured and cut out with a pair of scissors. 

Center the fusible fleece on the backside of the handle fabric. It is OK if you don’t have it perfectly centered, just use your best judgement.

Clip or pin the handle together the long way, being sure to leave an opening on the long edge of 2-3”. Clip or pin the short ends as well.

Stitch together the handle with a ½” seam allowance. Sew the short sides as well, but remember to not sew the opening shut.

Clip all of the corners on the handle with a pair of scissors. If desired, you can also trim the seam allowance on the short sides down a little. This is an optional step and is not required.

Turn the handle right side out using the opening. Be sure to poke out the corners using a tool of your choice, taking care to not poke through the fabric.

Press the handle flat with an iron and a pressing cloth.

Topstitch the entire handle, making sure to close up the opening as well. 

Fold the bucket gently in half, using the back seam as a reference to where to fold in half towards the front. One ‘side’ of the bucket should be facing up towards you. Take a ruler and measure the length of the bucket. Figure out the halfway point and either make a mark with a removeable marking pen, or use a pin like we did. Repeat this on the other side.

Using the mark or pin from earlier as a reference, center one end of the handle on that mark. Measure 2” down from the top of the bucket and pin the handle end in place. 

Stitch the handle in place by following the top stitching from earlier. Secure the handle with an X in the box as well, to make sure no candy haul is too heavy for it to handle!

Repeat the process to secure the handle on the other side of the bucket.

The bucket tote is now ready for trick-or-treating! Create ones for the kids (of all ages) in your life, or make Boo buckets for friends and neighbors as a fun little surprise. Make one into a jack-o-lantern , or have it show off a favorite costume with some additional personalization.