Saturday, July 5, 2008

It's Easy Being Green

Last night I tackled the task of making a cloth grocery bag. We really hate using plastic bags because you can't recycle them. Sure you could re-use them once or twice yourself, but when your done with the bag, it's done. I heard someone say once when you throw something away it really doesn't go away. Your trash gets buried somewhere.

A while back we started requesting paper bags. Sure they are not as easy to handle and they take up more room in your car, but they can be recycled. Instead of being such a selfish, "right now", always easy, nation we need to really think how our actions may be effecting our environment.

We've done the cloth diapers so why not try using cloth grocery bags??? Almost five years ago I needed some sturdy fabric to cover something with so I searched the clearance fabric at Walmart. I walked away with some pale green fabric for $1 a yard. I bought more fabric then I thought I needed and was surprised when the project took even less then expected. For almost five years about four yards of the fabric as been stowed away until yesterday. For the body of the bag I used this tutorial by Wisdom Of The Moon. I didn't feel the bag handles in the tutorial were the best choice; they were not made to be strong being simply tacked onto the top. I decided to use this tutorial from Making Something. The bag turned out great. I love how the bottom of the bag turned out. Because it's all one piece it should hold up better. I made the handles out of the same fabric. I cut two 4"x22" strips. I folded them in half, ironed, opened it up and folded each side into the fold, then folded it back in half and ironed. It made the handles 1" wide. I then sewed four seams down each handle 1/8" apart. I did the same thing to the top of the bag. Oh, give me a moment I'll see if I can get a good picture of it.

I didn't take a picture of the bottom corners, but you can kind of see they are folded up just like the instructions said they would.

Here you can see the four seams I put in the top and handles of the bag.

Here you can see how generous the size is. Maybe I should have loaded it up for a better idea. I really see now why Sara said she wanted to make some smaller bags for canned goods. Maybe I'll stitch that one with red thread or put a strip of random fabric on it so the baggers at the commissary will know it's for cans. By the way you all should really check out Sara's blog. She has a lot of helpful tutorials on there. I've had a lot of fun clicking through all the blogs she has linked from her site.

Now I'm off to make another bag. Another project I recently made was a diaper clutch for a baby gift. I'll have to show that one to you later.

1 comment:

Hilary said...

Man you are so awesome..a sewing genius!! I want one..is it hard to be so talented? :) Hope you had a great 4th! have a super weekend