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My Favorite Fabric Shopping Bag |
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My Favorite Fabric Shopping Bag |
| I got tired of all the plastic bags that I
ended up with after shopping, so I've been making fabric shopping bags. I
sure like these fabric bags, you can really cram a lot into them and they
are sturdy, with, no danger of tearing. I now have a collection of fabric bags
in the car, cuz I found it was the best place to store them and be sure I
had them with me. And I've made some for others as gifts. I've made a little pact with myself to use only fabric already in my stash, no new fabric for bags! Since I have a lot of fat quarters, I was happy to find a pattern which utilized FQs.
I used 4 Fat Quarters for the bag & lining.
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After trial & error, at left is my favorite style of fabric bags. I got the parts for my bags from 2 different websites: Truth be told -- I had a "whoops" on this bag. The reason there is a purple horizontal stripe is cuz I mis-cut the "bugs" fabric. So, the center panel had to be pieced together. |
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I like to make the
front and back in 3 panels. The seamlines of the panels act as a guide
to position the handles in place. Careful with one-way prints, if you
have a full length of fabric, you will have to cut it and piece it at the
bottom -- see photo at left. I use 1/4" seams, but, you can use 1/2" seams, if you wish. |
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My construction of
the body of the bag varies a little bit from
www.thecreativethimble.com
bag.
Use one continuous piece for the front & back and the lining (front and back), piecing where necessary.
Cut 3 panels for the
front = 5-1/4" wide, 8-3/4" wide and 5-1/4" wide x 18" high. Sew the front to the back at the bottom seam -- take care with one-way prints. When you make panels, you can use up all kinds of patches of fabric, maybe even some orphan blocks. |
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The lining is cut the same size as the front/back. Right sides together,
sew the front/back to lining front/back at tops of the bag. |
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Turn right
side out. Press. Topstitch top of bag. |
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You now have a bag that is flat. When you're working "in the flat" it will be easier to sew the handles on. I used www.morsbags.com directions for the width of the handle, cut 4". This makes for a very comfortable width and a sturdy handle. I used the 96" for the length of handle from the www.thecreativethimble.com bag, cutting the handles in one continuous loop. The handles go all the way around the bottom of the bag. Really secure. Fold & press the handles. I turn under & press 1/4" along one long edge of the handle. Turn under & press 1-1/4" along the other long edge of handle. Fold the handle wrong sides together, meeting folds on long edges. Do not topstitch the handle until sewing it to the bag. Place the handles against the seamline on the center panel. Pin the handle to the bag. You can't see that the handle is pinned in place in the pic, but the handle is pinned to the bag in preparation for sewing. |
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Sew the handle to
the bag, with 3 rows of stitching (close to each long edge of handle & down
the center). You can sew all around, 3 times, without stopping.
On occasion, you might have to stitch over stitching, but that's okay.
Be sure to make Xs in the handle, near the top. This will make it more secure. |
| Sew the side seams
in a French Seam -- sew wrong sides together, press, turn fabrics to right
side, press and then sew right sides together. Here's some instructions on how to make a French Seam, if you've never done that before. |
| Use the template
from
www.thecreativethimble.com
bag to make a square
bottom. Just leave those triangles flopping in the bottom of the bag, no
reason to trim them off.
11/30/08 |
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I bought a reusable bag from Publix for a buck. I have them put my cold and frozen food in that bag. Figure I can just hose out that bag if necessary. I have them place only dry items in the fabric bags that I make. I use my bags at Walmart and am very pleased with all the little items that fit in these bags. And even if they overstuff them at the store, I have never had them become too heavy to carry. |
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There's are directions on the WWW for a fabric bag made to look like the plastic bags you get at the stores -- http://www.allfreecrafts.com/sewing/shopping-bag.shtml |
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www.Tipnut.com has a list of instructions for 35 reusable grocery bags -- just do a search for "fabric shopping bags". |
| After a trip to the
store, it is much nicer to look in the back of the van and see nice fabric
bags, rather than plastic! What a benefit it would be to our world if more of us started to use fabric bags in place of plastic bags |
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Took a pic of a
recent trip to the grocery store. That's the $1 Publix bag on the left
that I use for frozen & cold. The other 2 are bags I made. October 10, 2008 - 3 bags - $105.97! And
I had turned in almost $5 in coupons! |
| I have made
a tutorial for a Christmas Shopping Bag. I'd love to hear from you if make one of these bags. Also, if you send a pic of finished bag, I will put it up in a gallery. email Pat |
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