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!

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!