West Elm knock-off bag

INSIDE : Learn how to create a gorgeous DIY Striped West Elm inspired tote bag! Perfect for carrying your miscellaneous items around in style.

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I love West Elm. If I had to pick one single store to literally bring my toothbrush and move right in, it would be West Elm. Today I will be sharing how you can create this West Elm knock-off bag for a fraction of the cost!

Here is my inspiration bag, the Baggu Dipped Tote in gold. It comes in at a price of forty five dollars. I did a little photoshop action and added my knock off Canvas Shoulder Bag for a side by side comparison. My bag came in at a total of eight dollars.

What supplies do you need to make a Striped Tote Bag?

How do I paint a Striped Tote Bag?

The first order of business is to purchase your canvas totes. I got mine at Hobby Lobby but there are a ton of options as to what type or style of bag you can select. I went for simple no frills tote bag.

I then took masking tape (I can’t locate our painter’s tape to save my life) and started blocking out the stripe pattern. I started at about 2/3 from the bottom and worked my way up. Leave the strap as is for now.

Next, I used my black acrylic paint and added some acrylic fabric paint medium as per the directions. The fabric medium helps prevent the paint from cracking once it has dried.

I slowly started filling in the blank spaces using my pouncer. Make sure your tape is pushed down all the way so no paint sneaks underneath it.

After about an hour, I removed the masking tape. Phew, what a lovely surprise so far.

Next, I wanted to mimic the black stripes along the West Elm bag’s handles but didn’t want to paint them.

I was worried even with using acrylic fabric paint medium that the paint would bleed onto the shoulders of my clothing. So, I grabbed some black ribbon and my sewing machine. I’m absolutely not a fancy sewer and hate being precise with things like measuring. So, I just eye balled the spacing at fairly regular intervals.

I also cut each ribbon to be about 3″ in length and left the excess hang over each side of the strap.

After all the ribbons were sewn on, I cut them down to size.

To get the gold color on the bottom portion of the bag, I tried a new product called Tulip Color Shot fabric spray paint.

I wrapped the entire canvas bag in a plastic bag and taped down the edges just at the edge of the last black stripe. I could not have been more pleased with the color. It took two quick swipes and was the perfect shimmery gold addition.