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ok, so I'm not sure which directions you've seen... but here's an example that might help. (these things are tough to do without photos so I hope this makes sense).
you need the cardboard tube from inside a roll of paper towels, a piece of paper, and scissors.
on one end of the cardboard tube cut 1/2" deep slices 1/2" apart all the way around the tube (as if you were making petals).
fold these petals out so they stick out from the tube all the way around.
turn the tube petal-side down and stand it on a piece of paper.
draw a circle on the paper just wide enough to go right around the outside edge of the petals.
cut out the circle.
so, the idea is to sew the flat circle to the base of the tube right across the edge of the petals where they meet the tube.
basically slicing the petals allows you to make a cylindrical object (the tube) meet up nicely with a flat object (the circle of paper).
so.
what you're doing with the totes is cutting a more-or-less rectangular section of bag for the "floor" of the tote...
and opening up the bottom of the bag to make an empty sort-of-rectangular tube...
and then sewing the bottom 1/2" of the tube to the rectangular-ish floor to make a tote. where there's a tight turn around the corners of the "floor" you make a slice in the tube to help it fit around the turn. just leave enough not-cut that you don't end up with a hole in the corner.
anyway, hope that helps you make sense of the directions you've seen.
ETA: oh, and once you've got the parts cut out, pinning everything together before you sew helps make sure that all the parts line up, and stay lined up, while you're sewing.