Reusable Produce Bags

Continuing on my quest to tread more lightly on the earth, today I started making reusable produce bags to take shopping.  These can be made of any fabric, but you want something really light in weight.  It would be great if you can see through it, but the bags can always go through the checkout open so the cashier can see the contents.

At first I thought of net curtains from the local thrift store but all they had was an embroidered tablecloth for $5!  Instead, I bought batiste curtain fabric at Fabricland for $5/metre - and really wide in the bargain - so I bought 2 metres.

Next - do I serge the seams or do French seams?  They need to be properly finished because light woven fabric frays like crazy!  I decided that serged seams could trap odd bits of stuff from the veggies, so went for French seams.  This is a quick sew - it took me half an hour from start to finish, taking pictures along the way.

First, I cut a rectangle 24"x16".

Next stitch a seam down one side of 1/4" - this will be on the right side of your fabric.  Now flip the resulting tube inside out and stitch slightly wider than the 1/4" seam to enclose it.  That's the side seam done.

Turn the tube inside out again to the right side - the French seam you've just sewn will be on the inside.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the bottom.

Flip the bag open and stitch across slightly outside the seam.  Now to finish the top.

With the bag turned so it's inside out, turn the edge 1/4".  This will be on the outside of the bag as your drawstring sleeve will be on the outside.

Now turn it over another 3/4" and pin this hem in place.  I put a clip at the seam and another at its opposite side.  This is where I'll leave openings for drawstrings.

I put pins on either side of the clips so I'll know where to start and stop stitching, making sure there's an opening big enough to take a safety pin holding the drawstring.

Stitch on top of your previous stitching line from one side to the other, making sure you aren't stitching over the planned opening.

You're almost done!  Cut 2 strings double the width of the bag top, with some extra for tying a knot - I cut my strings 31" long and used hemp twine because it's what I had on hand.  You will be inserting 2 drawstrings in the bag from opposite sides.

Tie a knot in the end of one string and put a safety pin through the knot.

Feed the safety pin through the channel right the way around, untie the knot in the end and tie the two ends together.

If you can find light-weight nylon twine, you can melt the ends with a match to prevent them from unravelling.  Now feed the second string length through, starting at the opposite side and tie off as you did the first.

The bag is done!  I weighed my bag to see how heavy it was and it turned out to be 20 grams.  Some bulk outlets will take that off the weight of your produce so you could even mark that on the outside in indelible marker.  One of these days plastic produce bags will be banned in my local grocery store - I'm ready!