A Quick Shopping Bag

These days, more and more communities are moving to ban plastic shopping bags.  And I totally sympathize.  We've been using our own shopping bags for years now and have had to replace them a number of times.  Today I decided to try making some simple singlet-style grocery bags.  I found several free patterns online

I started with woven fabric I picked up at my local thrift store.  This is an excellent place to find inexpensive fabric to use in projects like this.  Brightly coloured sheets would also be an excellent source as well.  I wanted a piece of fabric 37 1/2" by 21 1/2", so I folded the fabric in half, selvage edge on the bottom, fold on the left side of my cutting mat and cut a piece 18 1/2" wide and 21 1/2" long.

I folded the fabric right sides together and stitched the open side.  I used my serger, but a sewing machine works just fine.

Next I folded the side in approximately 3".  Since this is sort of a pleat, I marked the sides with a pin, measured 3" each side of the pin and marked them, too.

Then I brought the centre in between the markers and pinned the pleat together.   I did this for each corner as you can see above.

Next step is to serge along one end of the bag.  I did this right sides out.

I always weave the serger ends back into the stitching.

Then I turned the bag inside out and stitched across the seam with my sewing machine, just outside the serger seam.  This is for strength.

Now to cut the opening.  I flipped the bag right sides out again and marked 3" in from the sides and 6" across the bottom of the opening, rounding the corners.

Next, to finish the cut portion I serged along the raw edge.  You could finish this with bias tape if you wanted, but this is just an inexpensive, quick shopping bag, so I just serged the edge to finish it.

Now to cut the handle openings.  I drew a line with a marker with a rounded corner and cut this portion of the inside pleat out.

Then, I serged this raw edge, too.

Nearly done now! I re-folded the handles and serged across the top.

Then flipped that inside out and stitched across the seam with my sewing machine - as I did with the bag bottom.  This gives strength to both those weight-bearing seams.  And that's all there is to it!

This was my first attempt, so what would I do differently next time?  For one thing, I'd use a thinner material - this was almost a flannelette and I think something like a good sheet material would a better choice.  Also, I'd cut the inside of the handle down deeper.  While there's plenty of room for my hands, a bit more would be even better.  And finally, I'm might look for a better way to finish the bottom of the bag so it's more like the plastic bags.  However, this is a great start!