I miscalculated the effort and only had time to finish four of the bags today. I still need to reinforce the handles on the two remaining bags.

Reinforcing the handles is just a matter of sewing a square and an X through the two layers of handle and the top hem of the bag, but it takes a couple of minutes for each handle end (mostly pausing to turn the bag at each of the points).

The last step is to square off the bottom of the bag so that it sits flat. The easiest way to do this is to first iron the bag flat while it’s inside out, so that the bottom has a sharp fold. Take a pin and poke it through the fold about 2" from the bottom corner. Then poke the pin through the side seam, fasten the pin, and flatten out the triangle that it forms. Draw a line perpendicular to the seam 2 1/4" from the corner point, from one edge of the fabric to the other, and sew that line. Repeat for the other corner. UPDATE: Crafty Daisies has a photo tutorial on how to square bags that’s a lot clearer than my instructions.

Turn the bag right-side out and give it a good pressing, and it’s done. All told, it took about 30 minutes per bag.

I am still thinking about what to put on the front and back of the bags. I think I might dye them a different color and then think about silk-screening or painting on them. I have the urge to paint huge, bold, tribal, flash tattoo art all over them but I think I’ll get over that quickly.