Oh, Fransson!

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! 

Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial

At long last!  The Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial is complete.  

 Download Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox

Like the others, it's kind of a big file and may take a minute or two to download.  I included some tips/suggestions in the tutorial (probably more than anyone needs or wants, actually) but I also wanted to mention a couple of things here:

First of all, you'll want to take a good look at your pillowcase before you cut it.  The tutorial assumes your pillowcase is about 20" x 30".  It's fine if it's not those exact dimensions.  Given the order of the cutting directions, a smaller pillowcase will simply result in a smaller placemat, not a smaller bag.  You'll also want to take a look at the "header".  (I don't know of a better word for it, but I'm talking about the folded part at the opening.)  I've noticed that the size of this piece varies pretty widely among pillowcases.  The main cutting directions are for a header that's at least 3.5" wide.  However, I've also included an alternate set of instructions for a smaller header.  Both will work, you just need to decide which instructions to follow before you start cutting.

Secondly, I wanted to say a couple of things about Iron-On Vinyl.  It's really cool stuff.  It's also kind of tricky to sew -- particularly on the straps.  Before you start working on your project, I would suggest making a practice strap with some scrap fabric so you can determine your machine's proper settings for sewing vinyl.  (I found I had to increase my tension a LOT and use a slightly longer stitch.)  The tutorial refers to switching back and forth between "regular settings" and "vinyl settings" so you'll want to make a note of what those settings are before you start.  I didn't use a Teflon foot but, if you have one, it would probably come in handy here.  I would also suggest using a heavyweight/denim needle. 

When you're doing the actual ironing on of the vinyl, be careful about lint.  It's very, very easy (especially if you have cats) to get all kinds of things stuck between the vinyl and the fabric.  I like to keep tweezers nearby so I can pick them out before I iron.  Don't worry if the tweezers dent the vinyl.  It's actually quite resilient and, unless you've punctured the surface, any marks should press out.  While you're working on the project, be aware of your iron's location at all times.  Even a quick brush with the bare iron can melt a big old hole in your project!  (If this happens though, don't despair!  Trim away the melted plastic with embroidery scissors, cut a patch of iron vinyl to cover the hole, protect with the paper ironing sheet/backing and fuse the patch in place.  You'll be able to see the patch if you look closely, but it's probably not worth abandoning your project.)

If all of these warnings are making you wary of Iron-On Vinyl, there's a very simple solution.  Don't use it.  The project will work just as well without the vinyl.  You'll just need to interface your handles and exterior bag panel.  (I suggest a mid-weight sew-in like Pellon 40, which will still be easy to sew.) 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tutorial.  I would LOVE to see what anyone makes with this (or either of my other tutorials for that matter) so I've started a Flickr Group for that purpose.  If you're so inclined, please humor me and add your photos to this group!