We're so excited to introduce our newest sewing pattern, the Xenta Tote! Xenta combines our love of dramatic details, adventurous sewing, and practical utility. To celebrate, you can take 20% off this week! Click here to snap up the Xenta Tote, or read on for all the details.
This pattern is very special to me as I designed it when I was severely unwell with Long Covid. It became my creative patternmaking outlet as I spent time stuck in bed researching and working on advanced digital patternmaking techniques for pleats. You all know my passion for pleats by now! For patternmaking bragging rights, the pleated front of the tote is all just ONE pattern piece. It sort of drove me insane when I was making this pattern puzzle but I'm so absolutely proud of how it all comes together!
Xenta definitely puts a fresh spin on the classic tote bag. She features interlocking box pleats which look mind-bending, but are surprisingly simple to bring together. It’s a pattern puzzle that is made for people who love a fun detail or unique sewing experience.
She's fully lined with an inner pocket to keep you organised, with long straps to help with whatever you're hauling!
You know we love a draped design with intricate pleats (think our Viola Top, Adeline Dress and Iris Tee) and we love making it fun to sew! Xenta's diagonal pleats aren't hard to sew, but we know it's a little adventurous. That's why we created a video sewalong to go alongside our fully illustrated instructions. Did we mention the whole front is just one pattern piece?
You'll want to look for medium weight non-stretch fabrics that press well and hold their shape. Natural fibres like cotton and linen cut and press really nicely. For a glam version, think about textured fabrics like corduroy and velvet and imagine how the pleats would play with the direction of the nap.
The samples shown here are all made from linen. But it's important to note that I block-fused the linen before cutting. (Block fusing is when you apply fusible interfacing to a length of fabric before any pattern pieces are cut from it.)
I used a lightweight fusible interfacing for all the pieces. For this lightweight linen it adds body as well as structure. This is important to keep the pleats in place and makes a stronger tote bag too. It also means the fabric shifts around less during cutting and sewing.
Don't forget the lining! The bag is fully lined so that no raw edges will be visible when you're finished. The lining doesn't need to be fused as it isn't structural. The lining I used for the navy bag was a viscose remnant from a dress. Scrap busting is always nice!
For the lining of the pink and lilac bag, I simply used the same pink linen as the outer, but this time unfused.
Choose a matching colour or contrast print, or raid your scrap stash for a light to medium weight non-stretch wovens like quilting cotton, cotton lawn, sateen or satin.
In addition to the creative main design, we've included variations for a colour-blocked view (pictured above). This is a very simple tweak you can make to create a clever, (and stash-busting) variation. One note to make is that for this pink and lilac colour-blocked version, I sewed the straps from the front to the back of the bag, rather than side to side. This was just one more way to show off the colour block.
Looking for a slimmer, lighter tote? Omit the side and based panels for a flat profile tote!
And finally, if you're just looking for a plain tote bag, no pleats, no frills, you can always just omit the pleats and make a standard bag (there are instructions for which pieces to cut extra of in the booklet).
As always, our patterns come with at-home and copyshop print options, as well as a projector file.
We're celebrating the Xenta Tote release this week with 20% off - no code needed! (Sale runs through midnight May 6 EST.) We can't wait to see what you make! Don't forget to use #fmnXenta and tag @forgetmenotpatterns so we can see your beautiful creations!
