I've made several patchwork tote bags. The first few were just the two squares sewn together on three sides and similar size plain squares for the lining.
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This one has a gusset and is quilted in the ditch.
I made the front and back squares and the gusset strip, put the sandwich together and did the quilting and trimmed off all the excess wadding and backing. Then I put wrong sides together and stitched it, and then did a regular quilt binding over the seams.
You can't see in the photos, but the handles are stitched to the outsides with small squares of the navy fabric stitched over the ends to hide the raw edges. The handles themselves are three rouleau strips plaited together (like hair). That makes softer, rounded edges to the handles which is more comfortable to carry, especially if the contents are heavy. This is a nice sturdy bag.
I've never tried putting pockets onto a bag.