So I jumped the gun and posted this early. My actual day to participate in this blog hop isn’t until next Friday, August 24th. I guess better early than late but I was planning on having it post the night before via the calendar feature. Oh well!!
Some fabulous bloggers are sharing free patterns and tutorials for an August blog hop. We can all get some great ideas and they’re all free!?? See the bottom of my post for the entire blog hop schedule.
I decided to make my post about a wonderful tutorial I found for making reusable shopping bags. You know those types of bags that markets sell for a buck or two, but they’re in vinyl or flimsy fabric. Well, this tutorial will allow you to make several bags from fabric that will hold up in the wash to use over and over again.
I really admire those folks who head to the market with their own shopping bags in hand. In the California town where I grew up, plastic bags are completely banned so you’re forced to bring your own bags. I thought that if I made some fun looking bags that perhaps I might use them more often. I wrote to Ellen, the owner of thechillydog.com, and she graciously allowed me to share her reversible shopping bag tutorial with you. Here is the free tutorial below:
https://www.thechillydog.com/2014/03/reversible-shopping-bags.html?m=1
This reversible fabric shopping bag is sturdy and larger than the size of a typical brown grocery bag. It’s quick to make and you can even use an old sheet or curtain to repurpose fabric when making them. Look at my photos and you’ll see that I was able to get 5 cereal boxes in the bag with some leftover room for other items as well. The only adaptation I made was to lengthen the straps so that I can hold the bag over my shoulder if I choose. My straps measure 29″ before sewing into the bag, making them about 27″ long when finished. Other than this change, the bag is perfect as is. I prewashed my fabric beforehand so that the bag would remain the same size when washing. I must mention that it’s important to wash these grocery bags occasionally as they do get grungy and yucky if you use them religiously.
This is the bag with the original 20″ straps. It’s a fine length for holding the bag, but not as a shoulder bag. I redid my grape bag (see below) with straps that are 29″ before assembling so that I can put the bag over my shoulder.
Here is my 2nd bag with straps that are cut 29″ before assembly. I love having the option to hold the bag over the shoulder as seen here in this photo.
Some tips for making this bag.
- Prewash your fabric so your final bag won’t shrink.
- Lengthen the straps to 29″ if you want a shoulder bag.
- I used regular cotton fabric for my bags, but if you want a more heavy and substantial bag, you can use any canvas or home decor fabric, but i recommend something washable.
- To save money, you can use an old sheet, duvet cover or curtain for the bags if you like. Each bag takes 1.5″ yards of fabric total.
- You can purchase pre-made webbing or belting straps at a fabric or craft store like Joanns and then you will be down to needing just four 20″x 20″ pieces of fabric for one bag.
- The bag can be made from leftover pieces of fabric for a more scrappy look if you like.
That Fabric Feeling 
I need to make some of these! Thanks so much for sharing!! xx
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I’m late to the party, but I’m so happy I didn’t miss it.
I’ve been trying to cut out the plastic as much as possible. We are ruining our beautiful planet. Thank you for this fantastic post. I am pinning it for later.
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You are so right about plastics needing to be eliminated. Thanks for visiting and no, you’re not late to the game. We were recently on vacation in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and they have begun a serious no-straws-campaign. Every little bit helps and I’m all for bringing our own fabric grocery bags!
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Thank you. I try to remember to take my reuseable grocery bags because they are strong and really make a statement. Thanks for this great pattern/tut.
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I try to remember but usually fail. I’m hoping to make things better with using my own bags.
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Great bags and I love the thought you have put into them to make them even more useful and affordable.
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Thanks so much. I’m having fun with these.
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Thank you for this great free project! I use the bags the stores sell and I have never been very happy with them. This is a project I can really use!
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I’m glad it’s helpful. I have already made others that aren’t yet posted… I can’t stop.
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Thankyou for sharing the grocery bag post! It’s great and I agree the longer straps will work better. Love the blog.
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Thank you so much. The longer straps are s must!
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What a wonderful large sized bag…thanks for sharing!
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You’re quite welcome. It’s a very easy tutorial to follow.
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Great idea! Thanks for sharing!! We have a few store-bought ones, but home sewn is always better!!
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Agreed. The store bought ones usually don’t hold up for too long.
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Well I have been a bag lady for over 3 decades now, lol! I love using bags and making them and they are just so useful. As a participant for this blog hop too, I also made bags, just different kinds. Nicely done.
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Thank you. My kids joke that I make bags for everything.
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Oh, can you ever really have enough bags for shopping? I love these fabric ones because they can get thrown in the washer when needed. The store bought ones tend to get really limp and sad once they are washed. Thanks for sharing with us all!
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Joan, I totally agree. These will last much longer!
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Great idea, I actually use the store bought ones and have been known to resew the seams after washing. This makes so much more sense. Like what you did in modifying the straps too.
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Selina, thanks. Yes these should hold up much longer plus, they’re prettier!
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Nice bags, and a great idea! I use cloth bags from the supermarket, but I really should make my own.
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Next time… they make great gifts too. A matching pair of them seems like a nice hostess gift.
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Awesome, Awesome, I love this idea… granted it’s the same in Germany when we lived there, you had to bring bags if you wanted to take your groceries out to the car. They don’t even have paper bags, they’ll happily sell you cloth bags… One thing that I think would be a good idea is the shower curtain leftovers on the inside of the bag, simply because you’d have something waterproof to put meats and dairy in which if there was any leaking the curtain fabric would catch it and it would be easy to clean out.
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Marian, that is an excellent point!! I love your thinking, these are very useful bags and so easily adaptable.
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