Make Your Own Sandwich Bags

Picture this: A mother is packing a school lunch and pulls out a small plastic bag, shakes it open. "Flash" The camera pulls back so now you can see 300 people, all packing their lunches and simultaneously pulling out small plastic bags. "Flash" All over the country, and the world, people throw these bags away. Many of them end up in land fills which is bad enough, but a lot of them also blow around, hang in trees, wash down drains etc. Whales have been found with stomachs full of plastic bags.

 

I'm not trying to change the world by making sandwich bags, but once you know something it's hard to just keep doing the same thing every day without feeling some pang of guilt.

 

Enter the homemade sandwich bag! I saw the idea in a book and modified it a little. The fabric I used is called PUL fabric(I found mine at JoAnn Fabrics), it's laminated on one side so it's waterproof. I used the knit kind so that it has some give.

To care for them, just turn them inside out and clean under hot water, rubbing any food spots off. If they really need a good cleaning after some heavy onioning or something, throw them in a gentle wash. They should always air dry, otherwise the laminate will eventually dry and crack.
 

Here's how I made them.

Cut a rectangle about 13x7, slightly curving the top corners.

To make your own bias tape... ^^ by about 20 inches of a thin cotton fabric with no stretch.

Working slowly, fold one long edge to the middle and iron. 

Apply bias tape to the straight/bottom edge. Fold up a little more than 3/4 of the way and stitch the sides, laminate on the inside.

Leaving about 1/2 inch overhang at the bottom, match the raw edge of your tape with the edges of your bag. Pin in place and stitch.



To make it easier you can use ready made bias tape or a thick ribbon. With ribbon you will only have to fold it over once because of the lack of raw edges needing to be encased.

As with most projects, your first one will take you the longest, but once you've done it you can really zip these out.

And tell me; Are you too busy to make these? I'm considering selling them from my Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/store/TheSistersNeedle.com. Which style would you prefer? Would you purchase them?