These Old Bags
January 7th, 2012 § 10 Comments
I figured that a good way to start out the New Year would be to replace my old shopping bags. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time but kept putting off. There always seems to be something more important that needs to be sewn.
Above are all of our old shopping bags that I’ve collected over the years from various grocery stores. None of them are very laundry friendly. But especially the purple one! It bleeds like crazy. And the recycled plastic non-woven one on the right can’t be washed either. The bottoms on all of them look really stained and ratty. And at least one is developing a hole.
Tada. The new bags. I really want to be able to throw our grocery bags in the laundry with everything else and not have to worry about it. All the fabric was pre-washed before sewn. And they needed to be be husband approved so that he wouldn’t be embarrassed to take them to the grocery store. Hence the neutral colors.
They all are essentially the same bag with various tweeks. I love starting with Terry Atkinson’s Fat Sack tutorial and then making changes as desired. The pleated bottom is so easy! I’ve made these before as gifts.
The two on the left have shorter handles because I forgot that I like them longer. And the two on the right got longer handles, but I stitched them to the top rather than extend them all the way to the contrasting bottom piece.
There are so many grocery bag tutorials and patterns out there that you can make. Go ahead and give one a try. You can never have too many bags.
Great improvement! Grocery shopping can be so mundane and having nice bags can make it “enjoyable.” =)
I think Aldi has the perfect shaped reusable bag!! I should measure it and make my own “pretty” ones.
Happy New Year!
I love these. So nice to be able to launder them.
Very nice!
What a good idea. I’ll make one or two also.
Fantastic! I love the square shape of the ones in the tutorial…my favorite bags of mine are the canvas ones that can be washed. I reallllly want to phase out those no-woven store specific jobs that are garish but, unfortunately, seem to last forEVer =-/ I’m saving this post =-)
I like your old shopping bag with the coffee design on it. It looks like an old-time advertisement….at least in the picture.
Super cool. I’ve been using plastic reusable but not washable ones which I now worry are getting icky after reading about e.coli stuff leaking from meat packages. Now on my To Do list!
i really like your new bags, especially the ones on the right. i have an oprah one i got from a tag sale ages ago that is similar. it has held up well. i need to scope out that pattern
Way to go! Plastic grocery bags have been banned in the San Jose area and you have to buy paper ones for 10cents a piece now. We’ve known this for a while and have been getting used to bringing out own bags, but it still came as a shock to some people. These make great gifts! It was thoughtful of you to make sure your hubby wouldn’t be embarressed to carry them.
these are really nice!!!! I’m not a big fan of the non washable ones, but I can see using something like this…….My fave is also the coffee one.