How-to: Lunch bag based on plastic grocery sack
I work in an office two nights a week, and until now had been packing lunch in a plastic grocery sack because my insulated lunch box was too small for a frozen dinner. Plastic grocery sacks are an unsatisfying lunch transport system for many reasons: they are bad for the environment when they inevitably end up in the trash (even if you reuse them many times); they are flimsy and tear easily; and they are ugly as sin.
However, they are roomy and accommodating. So I decided the perfect lunch bag for me would be a plastic grocery sack that wasn’t plastic.
This is how I made it. I am assuming some rudimentary sewing and bag-making knowledge. (You know: Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of your seams, press your seams open, maintain a better tension than I obviously did, etc.)
You will need probably about a 1/2-yard each of exterior and lining fabric. The bag I used as a template was about 18” wide by 18” tall.
First, take a plastic shopping bag and cut across the top of the handles and across the bottom. Spread it out on the floor; this will be your template.
Next, take your exterior fabric. Fold it selvage to selvage, wrong side out. Place the plastic bag on the fold. Trace around it. The tracing line will be your sewing line. (I love this trick; I got it from Bend The Rules Sewing.) Leave a little room to the left and right of your bag for seam allowance.
Keeping the fabric folded, I turned it over and traced the template on the other wrong side too, making sure the two were matched up where the side seams would meet. Unfold this to get a very tall vertical rectangle.
Take your exterior fabric, which is unfolded and with the wrong side facing up and sewing line visible, and place it on top of the lining fabric, right sides together. Sew all along the sewing line, leaving about 4” for turning.
Boy, that stitching tension is looking … pretty bad. Anyway. Next, trim to about 1/4” away from the stitching line. Trim across the seam allowance at each corner and clip notches into the seam allowance at curves, but do not cut across the stitching line.
Turn the bag inside out through the 4” hole you left. Using a point turner or a chopstick, poke out the corners.
Press flat. Fold in half, matching edges, and stitch the sides up to the bottom of the handle. Stitch across the top of the handles.
To better mimic a grocery bag, I folded the handles in half, bringing the outside edge toward the inner edge and stitching on either side of the seam line. This photo shows the right handle.
You could also fold in the bottom edge and sew this down.
The finished object. I can answer questions in the comments. (I’m all right at sewing, but telling someone else how to do it is hard!)
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That is a fantastic idea, I’m going to make one!
shit, mama, you gots it goin on.
i can’t wait to see this in person, and MAJOR props to you for getting this post up- i know how much went into that.
dude. i’m just so impressed with you!
I’ve been looking for the perfect lunch bag for years. LIke one that’s not a shopping bag from Sephora or Tiffany (I use the latter when I’m feeling super pretentious). The one you’ve made is absolutely perfect. But due to lack of skill I would actually pay you to make me one. Because seriously, my hand/eye coordination is lacking and I’d end up with like half a bag or a sock or something.
thank, chicas! Rach, I’d love to see it. Heather V., I’ll show you it tomorrow. Heather B., the thought of ending up with a sock instead is killing me with laughter.
[…] me a treasure trove of fabric, which has only made me love her more. Check out her recent post on how to make a lunch bag that mimics a plastic grocery bag without ending up in a landfill. she also made nearly a whole […]
[…] Lunch Bag Based on a Grocery Sack Mary Beth of Supa Fine wanted a lunch sack that was roomy, accommodating and reusable so she designed this to suit her (and possibly your?!) needs: Lunch bag Based on a Grocery Sack Tutorial. […]
I’ve got to make some of these! Thanks for showing how you did it! It is simpler then the idea I was cooking up in my head.
an AWESOME tutorial and it wouldn’t be a bad way to stitch up some quick purses! I have also tried to write up tutorials and you don’t realize how many steps there are until you have to write them down. So often we do alot of it without too much thought
Thanks for a great tutorial, Mary Beth. I made this today (pictures on my blog).
Glad to be of help, guys.
Hashi, thanks for dropping me a note! Man, I love what you made.
Hi Mary Beth - I want to add my “thank you!” for posting this tutorial. GREAT idea. I made a couple last night to use for groceries. Used some denim so they can handle the heavy items. cheers! a
Much better than all these damn plastic bags floating in our oceans killing our marine life. I think this is a wonderful idea.
Great bag! I’ll have to try and make this one, I hate the plastic bags too
These are great! I made one using home decorating fabric and you save yourself 1/2 a yard of fabric and just serge the edges, turn them down and sew down. Home dec is always on sale or on clearance.
Sturdier as grocery bags with the heavier weight fabric.
My friends love them and are asking to buy them!
Good ideas, the denim and home dec fabric! Glad to be of use, gang.
That’s such a great idea!!! It’s simple and great!!!
I made 2 already (just to learn how to make them ok) and I’ll make a lot more to give to my sisters and friends.
Thank you very much!!!
Veronica Lima
Ahhh, the pictures of my versions of your lunch bag are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaameliabolsasartisticas/2096164329/
[…] Cloth Grocery Sack: This was a bit different than a cloth shopping bag — instead of the paper-bag shape, this is […]
i made one of these and added a pocket on the outside so i can fold the bag up in itself and then i can put it in my purse till i need it at the grocery store.
Thanks for visiting the blog. This bag was a great idea! So fast and easy to make - right up my alley!
[…] Cloth Grocery Sack: This was a bit different than a cloth shopping bag — instead of the paper-bag shape, this is […]
You have saved me a great deal of thinking and…
Given me a great project for a Public Library make and take session for my tween-age patrons. They’ll love the roomy “Purse” and the colors and patterns that I have chosen for the bags are so out of this world. Thanks, thanks, thanks!
**another idea….totes for swim gear, yard tools, oh my the mother load!
I love this, I can’t wait to make mine! I’m going to reinforce handles with an additional layer between exterior and lining, extending to only halfway down the bag. Also think I will add coordinated ribbons stitched in the side seam to roll and tie the bag for toting about so I’m not ever without a bag…
Making some for my daughters for library book bags…making zillions! Thanks soooo much!
[…] while doing some more “inspiration hunting” I came across this tutorial: Fabric Lunch Sack. Of course I had to tweak the design a little and (in my opinion) make it better. I didn’t […]
i made one before, but it didn’t turn out right, i didn’t lay it flat on the fabric to trace it. but thanks to you now i know perfectly how to do it. thanks for sharing
44 dollars.
http://www.branchhome.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22&products_id=298
[…] paper ornaments by Design Sponge How-to: Lunch bag based on plastic grocery sack by […]
[…] for a tutorial for a cloth bag fashioned after the plastic bags from the supermarket. Here’s the tutorial- it’s a good one, too. And that’s how I made bilingual papi his new bag- which, I […]
[…] off and learn how to make something that was practical and attractive to tote our groceries in. Supafine has a really fantastic tutorial on how to make a bag that is patterned off of a plastic grocery […]
[…] Becca made some beautiful ones from a pattern she found online. So I searched online. I found this pattern and made my first […]
You’re my hero and a genius! What did I think of that? I spent 10 hours making a bag today and am so proud of myself right now. I am glad that I, as a young professional working woman, don’t have to bring those age-improper lunch bags, such as superman or hello kitty bags, to work.
Thank you so much for posting it.
I did something similar. I used only one layer of fabric. I wasn’t sure what to do at the bottom. I folded it in and sewed it so that it mimics or is (basically) the same structure as the plastic bag. I didn’t post mine though bc I was going to put it on Instructibles.com but I just didn’t get it organized. So KUDOS to you for getting this up!! My goal is to make enough bags to keep in the car for grocery bags. I have five so far. I made them out of bed sheets that don’t fit the mattresses we still have. They are pin striped, so until the checkers recognized me as the bag lady, they thought the bags were shirts or boxers. But when I tell them I made them out of old bed sheets, I feel weird, so I don’t say that anymore, lol. They were my first “by myself” sewing project. My problem was how to finish the edges of the bag. Is that why you used two layers? I put what I think is called facing behind many of the edges, esp the curved edges. I also folded the handles.
One of the checkers was cool enough to recdognize that they are exactly the same size and shape as the store’s bags, and actually put the bags on the metal racks that the plastic bags are kept on. wow, did that made me feel great!
What I really would like is what I think are called grommets but I want them the same size and shape as the holes in grocery bags that enable the bags to be put on the racks for the clerks.
So if you know of such type of grommets (or what they are called if not grommets) please let me know!
ssheehy@lausd.net
That is such a great idea. I know what I will be doing tomorrow.