Lunchbox Inspiration: Little Shopping Bags

Hello, lunchbox swappers and anyone else who's reading!  This is the first of several planned posts to (hopefully) inspire your lunchbox/bag making.  If you're looking for even more inspiration, check out the new pictures in the Lunchbox Swap Flickr Group. 

Today, I'm going to talk about what I call Little Shopping Bags.  You know those paper shopping bags with the cord or twill tape handles that some stores give you when you buy something small (and which you then use to carry things around in for months)?  I see people using bags like this to carry their lunches to work all the time.  I've been known to use them myself.  However, they're not very sturdy and they don't do well in the elements.  Also, they're ugly.  I was sure we could do better.

Making a fabric facsimile of these bags turned out to be easy.  It also gave me a chance to try out eyelets, which I'd never done before.  If you're like I was and think eyelets will be difficult to use, I'm here to tell you they're not.  Setting eyelets is very easy indeed. 

Because this bag design is so simple, you can use almost any fabric you want.  Here are some of the materials I tried out:

These were made with some oilcloth remnants I bought at the Mill End Store ages ago.

Here are a couple of zakka-inspired bags made from natural linen and a printed muslin patchwork panel.

These two are made from your standard-issue printed cottons.  The black and white bag is made from some of Alexander Henry's decor weight fabric.  The blue and red bag is made with quilter's cotton from the Sis Boom Girlfriends line for Free Spirit.

I even made some out of paper, just for fun.  The green bag is made from a sheet of handmade paper from Thailand.  The bag on the right is made from an old grocery bag.  If you want to make these from paper, it helps to use something heavy, but not too rigid.  Because it's going to get wrinkly anyway when you turn it inside out, I recommend wadding the whole thing up first, to make it more pliable.  I also skipped the lining on these.

I've made up a little tutorial for these bags. 

Download little_shopping_bag_tutorial.pdf

The pattern is simple, so it's very short.  I'm warning you, though.  I was complaining the other day about not wanting to make the same thing over and over, but I could not stop making these bags.  I made eight Sunday afternoon alone!  (That probably gives you some idea how quickly they come together.)

Here's one last shot of several of them together.  The tutorial includes three sets of dimensions for bags ranging from about 5" x 7" to about 8" x 10".  Hopefully it's useful to someone.

If you do make a Little Shopping Bag (or anything from one of my tutorials), please consider posting a photo in the Flickr Group.  I love to see what people are making! 

Comments

[karmela]

These are great! I see them as the perfect gift wrap: gorgeous and reuseable! I especially love the paperbag one. Thanks for sharing the pattern!

[Marcia]

Not only would this be great for a lunch bag, but a simple reuseable gift bag...I see them in baby prints and birthday prints.....Oh! At Halloween, they would make great trick or treat bags in the right fabric! You did it again. Great idea!

[Jackie]

ooohh, just checked out the flickr pool. i'd better get busy. i had already been thinking about making a little tote type lunch sack, so i was happy to see all of this inspiration. very awesome, and very reusable.

[Jen]

Wowza! Thanks so much for the excellent tutorial!

Jen

[Christina]

My mother is the biggest offender of using paper handled bags from quilt shops and starbucks for lunch bags. She keeps telling me i'm not allowed to send my lunch bag swap that she wants it. I'm just going to have to point her to this tutorial so she can make her own! Great job! So cute!

[lily boot]

Hey they are soooo neat! I'm definitely going to try one with fabric from stash. I'm inspired by your comments about eyelets - certainly something I've avoided because it looks alarming with all manner of disasters possible - but now, I'll give it a go. May I post it to you flickr group despite not being in the lunchbox swap?

[muralimanohar]

Dang..those are cute. I am sure I could come up with a use...or three..for them around my house!

Now, where the heck did I stash those eyelets??

[jennyy]

Great idea! The eyelets make 'em really cool! Thx for sharing the tutorial - you've made lunch a prettier affair for sure!

[Elizabeth]

Thank you, everyone! Lily, I sent you an e-mail but, yes, you should definitely post your picture(s) to the pool. I'd love to see what you make!

[Erin]

Thank you for the tutorial. These look lovely and I love to sew. I'm not as good as I'd like to be...but, I'm working on it. Thanks again! :)

[Penny]

I can't wait, I can't wait!!! Thank-you for posting this! You are so creative!

[Tine]

Wonderful bags! I especially like the idea of using oil-cloth!

[the pesky bombolino]

What a great tutorial. I especially appreciate your tissue paper tip for sewing oilcloth. Thank you for sharing!

[Amy]

the cutest, what a great idea! thanks for sharing this! Another thing to add to my long list of cool things to make!

[Anna Y]

Thanks for the tutorial. I will have to modify the small version because it is a little too big for a fat quater. Seeing that my little someone is always in my bag, I think she might be hinting I need to make up her favourite fat quater. Just the right size and weight for CT. :D

[KIKI]

Thank you so much for the pattern. I love these bags, I've actually been looking for something like this for ages. I love the zakka version and plan to make 5 just for me! Thanks.

[Jenny]

Lol! I am one of those old, ratty Nordstrom lunch bag toters you speak of! I LOVE the black & white and the blue & red lunch bags (well, I love them all, but those would be my favs) If you're planning to sell either of them in your etsy shop, let me know - I am so ON IT! :)

[Frances]

Love your little bags. I enjoy reading your blog!

[Jill]

These would be great for gift bags! Thanks for the inspiration.

[Lisa]

The bags are excellent - thanks for the tute and the large range of samples to inspire!

[Anya from PassiFlora magazine]

Thanks for sharing this! Great tutorial and very cute bags.

I linked it at PassiFlora magazine (we have a post about reusable bags) http://passifloramag.com/2009/04/good-news/ I hope you do not mind.