Sewing for Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, I have scoured the internet in search of the best Grocery / Tote bags you can make yourself. Not only will you be helping to save the Planet by bringing your own bags to the store, but with these fun patterns, you can look stylish doing it!

I did a tutorial on making your own grocery bag for expertvillage.com. I designed this fashionable white vinyl bag to double as a Picnic Bag. I even included an elastic insert to hold your bottle of wine in place and a colorful outer pocket to hold coupons or your car keys.

This trendy tote from Canadian Living is so easy and fun and the color combination possibilities are endless.

This cute shopping bag (pictured) from Janome has fun embroidered details.

Or for simple, straight-forward Recycled Grocery Bag Ideas check out this bag or this easy tote

Happy Earth Day!!

Next Pattern:

I am just smitten with this felt gingerbread house bag. This would make such a sweet special Christmas accessory for a kid. It’s a free pattern at Benzie Design, designed by Gracie from Hello Gracie Makes. It’s packed with adorable gingerbread house details, like swirls and stripes and scallops adoring the doors and windows.

And while all those details might seem like this would be a complicated pattern, it’s actually not. The bag itself is made from felt, which makes finishes edges unnecessary. (All of those scalloped edges are just cut from felt, no edge finishing required.) The strap is super simple, made from rope with knotted ends. And all those details are made with some basic hand embroidery stitches. Sparkle felt makes it extra cute.

The striped scallop roof is actually the top flap of the bag. A magnetic snap makes it a secure closure. The rope straps are attached through felt loops at the side of the bag.

They rate this project as an intermediate level, and it should take about 6 hours to make start to finish. That’s doable for a Saturday project or a couple of evenings. Full color photos step you through the entire process.

The project includes a shopping list for all of your supplies. They’ve got a shop so you can order all of them from Benzie if you like and get exactly the supplies used in the project. I noticed it includes a pair of scallop shears, which makes cutting all the scalloped edges for the roof and around the door a breeze.

Finished dimensions of the little felt gingerbread bag are approximately 6 ½” wide x 7 ½” tall. That’s the perfect size to hold a small book, a small toy, or a notepad and some cute pens.

Go to Benzie Design to get the tutorial and free pattern for the felt gingerbread house bag.

Next Pattern:

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