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This Saturday, I’ll be sewing bags for The Old Creamery Grocery in Cummington. It’s part of their Sustainability Initiative. Last year, they purchased 47,000 paper bags. HOLY MOLY! This year, with the help of volunteer sewers and donated fabric, The Creamery hopes it’s volunteer sewers will produce 500 bags, and reduce the paper/plastic bag waste. These will be community bags that will reside in a basket in the store. So, if you forget your reusable bag, you can borrow one from the basket to take your groceries home. When you come back, just remember to bring the bag back to the basket for the next person.
It’s an awesome idea. I know a lot of people are already on board with the concept. and I were just talking about all the paper and plastic bags we get from shopping, and it’s kind of ridiculous. So to prepare for the Saturday Sewing Bag Marathon…I made up this little bag.
The deal with these bags is that nothing new should be purchased to make the bag. Items should come from your scrap pile, your old clothes, or thrifted. I found this skirt almost a year ago:
It’s a great print! It’s a cotton canvas. Nice and sturdy. I was thinking that I would make something for Iz out of it, but this bag was just calling it’s name! (no worries- there is plenty of fabric left, Iz will get a very cute skirt…)
I measured the brown bag from Trader Joe’s and cut out my pattern pieces:
If the fabric was big enough, I would have cut a 42″x19 1/2″ piece for the bag, but the skirt wouldn’t allow that. Instead I cut two squares: 21″ x 19 1/2″. I cut the binding off the skirt, knowing that it was long enough for my handles.
To sum it up here are the basics:
1 piece – 42″x 19 1/2″ OR
2 pieces 21″ x 19 1/2″
handles – 56″ (long enough to wear over your shoulder)
Since I would need to sew the handles on the bag first, I needed to finish the top edge of the bag. So I pressed under 1/2″ then, folded another 1/2 pressed it and stitched it in place.
One thing that kind of made this a bit of a challenge, much of the skirt was on bias, so the pieces I cut were on bias. And once you cut a bias piece, it will stretch a bit more or relieve the tension on the grain. Surprisingly, it effected how I would place the handles and made it more difficult. So I folded the pieces in half and placed the handles in 2 1/2″ from the center and pinned in place.
Once in place, starting at the bottom, I stitched along one side. Once I reached the top of the bag, I turned to stitch across the handle, backstitching a few times for reinforcement. Then, I turned again, and stitched down along the other side of the strip to the bottom of the bag. I repeated that 3 more times, for each leg of the straps.
Once the handles were done, with wrong sides together, I stitched the bottom of the bag together. I did a second row along that for reinforcement. I placed the straps of the handles so that they would be next to each other at the bottom, to help eliminate bulk.
I wanted my bag to have a flat bottom (just like the brown bags…). So I decided to tuck up the bottom and catch it in the sides, so that once right side out, the bottom corners would be squared for a flat bottom. After measuring my brown bag, I turned up either side and pressed 3 1/2″ from the bottom.
Once I was done pressing, I turned right sides together, tucking up the bottom, so it would be caught in the sides.
After stitching along the side (twice for reinforcement), I turned right sides out and voila! a bag.
To test it out, I stuffed it full of things….I holds a lot!
You can see how the bottom tucks into the sides, and helps to give it a flat bottom.
I love my new bag! I do wish the handles were a little thicker for comfort. It seems really sturdy, and the next time I run to The Old Creamery Grocery (or Trader Joes), I’ll be sure to put it to the test!
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