Gusseted Cloth Sandwich Snack Bag Tutorial

I can't stand spending money on items that are destined for the landfill. Diapers, wipes, sanitary pads, paper towels and especially expensive Ziplocs no longer have place in our home. Not only have we saved hundreds of dollars a year by not purchasing these "throw-away" items, they are also really fun to make yourself!

These bags feature a gusset at the bottom, so they open nice and wide, and don't squish sandwiches! Gussets allow the bags to hold more stuff (or wider items) and collapse flat when they’re not in use.


I designed these snack bags this past spring for a trip to Mexico, and we have a drawer full of them! I use them daily for granola, sandwiches and even our car toys.  My son is starting school tomorrow (1st grade - eek!) and he wanted his own cool bags for his lunches. He picked out this "awesome" flame fabric from the scrap bin at our local fabric store, and he can't wait to have lunches in them! Last year, his friends all told him that they wished their moms would make them some cool lunch bags too (blush!), so this is your opportunity, Moms!!

Need:
Sewing Machine
Scissors
(2) 7"x 7" Cotton fabric of your choice
(2) 7"x 7" Ripstop Nylon fabric
1 each 1/2"x 5" Hook and Loop Velcro (I cut mine to 1/2", but you can leave yours whatever thickness you like)

Step 1. Cut out (2) pieces of 7"x 7" Cotton fabric, and (2) pieces of 7"x 7" Ripstop Nylon for the liner.

Step 2. Place right sides of the fabric together and stitch the two (right and left) sides together with a 1/4" seam allowance.

This will make a "tube" of fabric. Repeat with the ripstop liner fabric, so you have 2 separate "tube" pieces.

Step 3. Turn the liner fabric inside out, and slide it inside the cotton fabric "tube", so that right sides are together. Make sure to line up the seams on the sides. You can pin the fabrics together at this point if you like. (I rarely do, but that is just me)

Step 4. Choose which side will be the top of the bag, if your cloth has a top direction, and position this side in sewing machine. Sew through 2 layers of fabric - 1 cotton layer, 1 liner layer. Stitch *almost all the way around on one side. Leave a 3" hole un-stitched for later (Step 9). Make sure you don't accidentally stitch through all 4 layers.

Step 5. Pull the liner out, and lay flat, right sides of the fabric inside, aligning the side seams.

Step 6. Sew a straight line along the bottom (open) end of the liner fabric. Repeat with the other cotton fabric side.

Step 7.  Create a Gusset: On the bottom corner, pinch and slide the bottom corner of the fabric into a point, so that the seams align with each other on opposite sides. It helps to open up the bag a bit to give you some room to slide the fabric around. Pin, or iron this flat. (See the pic in Step 8 for clarification).

Step 8. Sew across this point in about 1" from the end. Note - you can make these as large or as small as you like, the larger (longer) you measure away from the point of the fabric, the wider the bag will be. Don't make it too wide (over 1 1/2") or the bag will be too small to fit a sandwich.

Repeat on the other side. Then do the exact same with the nylon side.

I like to trim the excess fabric triangle off, as it makes the bag less bulky. Be sure not to cut through the seam.

Step 9. Remember the hole we left open in Step 4? Turn the bag inside out through this hole.

If you forgot to leave a hole, gently use a seam-ripper and open up a hole.

Nice huh!

Step 10. Tuck the liner fabric down into the cotton fabric.

 Step 11. Topstitch around the opening of the bag to help it lay flat.

 Step 12. Line up the hook side of the velcro along the top, and stitch around. Repeat with the loop side. Finished!

To clean, just wipe clean with a damp cloth, or toss in a cool water washing machine and dry.

Congratulations!! Aren't you proud of yourself? By using fabric sandwich/snack bags, we can save thousands of plastic bags from becoming non-biodegradable trash filling up landfills and floating in our oceans!

Make your own Play Kitchen!

We have a lot of play food around here. A. lot. And, crime of crimes - no play kitchen. (gasp!) I have been wanting to make/buy a play kitchen for E and little A ever since she was born - especially now that her play food collection (my first designs are always hers) has grown to overflowing her little tote. She needs a kitchen. 

I absolutely detest the plastic crap that is sold in toy stores, and have long wanted a beautiful, handmade play kitchen made from natural wood. I have scoured Etsy.com and other beautiful models from other online sellers, but sadly cannot justify the $300-$500 pricetags on the ones that I would put in my home. 

My husband is really skilled with wood working, but sadly full-time school, work, church callings and family life in general haven't permitted him the time to make a play kitchen from scratch. SO, while reading some excellent blogs, I found some amazing DIY projects! This pink & white one is made from a simple Ikea shelf, instructions here on ikea hacker.




Here is a great one made from an old nightstand from oh write! This is her version, and I am SO excited to use some of her amazing ideas to make our own play kitchen for the kids for Christmas this year! 

Last Christmas we decided to make Maren a little kitchen of her own. I had seen a few ideas here and there (I'm sure you have, too!), so I can't take complete credit for what we came up with.

We found this little footed nightstand on Craigslist for $15. Here's the best before picture I have. We had already sanded the top, but you can see how the piece looked in it's original form.

And, the completed kitchen:
We used wood craft circles and a square dowel for the burners. We painted wood nobs found in the craft store for the black nobs. The sink is a square cake pan and the faucet came from a salvage yard. Brett cut shelves to fit where the drawers had been, and cut and routered the back splash from a piece of shelving we had on hand. Hinges and handle for the oven came from Lowe's.


The inside of the oven is spray-painted shiny silver, and we have since added chains to both sides of the oven door to make it more sturdy. I made the little curtain rod with leftover fabric from M's nursery, and it's hanging on a small tension rod.

We estimate having spent close to $60 total, but definitely could have done the project for cheaper. Since this was a gift for our only child, we did splurge on a few things. (Namely the faucet...it cost $20, but we loved the size and the 'realness' it brought to the project! We also splurged on the handle for the oven door, and again, just loved the size and look of the one we chose.)

I found some great pics of other DIY play kitchens, and am so excited to get going on E and A's!! 

Cloth Lunch Bag Tutorial

As many of you know, I lived in Hawaii for 2 years while going to school at BYU Hawaii, and there made some of the most amazing friends and memories I will ever have. I miss my island home almost constantly and still await the day when I can visit my island Ohana again. A few years ago, a best friend sent me 2 stacks of 4" hawaiian fabric blocks for a Hawaiian quilt I was planning. Well, that quilt still has not been made and I have hundreds of these little squares sitting in my fabric bin. I pulled them out yesterday and decided to make some cloth lunch bags for E's school lunch. I had so much fun, I thought I would share them with you.

These bags fit sandwiches & snacks perfectly, and are completely machine washable. No more wasted money on garbage ziplocs! Plus, how fun to have these in your bag lunch! This pattern is a spin off from a great book called Cut Loose Quilts by Jan Mullen - my FAVORITE quilting book ever!

Materials Needed: 
(8) 4x4" squares of Cotton fabric
(2) 8" squares of Nylon fabric
1/2"x 4" Strip of Hook & Loop Velcro
Sewing Machine
Ruler
Rotary Cutter/Scissors

Lets Begin!

Step 1. Choose your fabric squares - I used 4 fabrics with 2 squares of each print. STACK all fabrics together into 1 stack.

 Step 2. Place ruler over fabric at any angle and cut all layers of fabric at once.

Step 3. Move ruler to another random angle and cut again. This is what your stack should look like (your angles will obviously be a bit different).

Step 4. Now separate the 3 cuts and lay them out, mixing up the fabric pieces with other colors so you get fun random blocks. Since you cut them all at the same time, they will all intermix perfectly. (The pic shown here only shows half of my blocks). These 4 blocks will make 1 side of the bag.

 Step 5. This part is a bit tricky, but you can do it! Take middle piece (A) and fold it over on top of (B), making sure to line up the edges along the dotted line. It doesn't matter that the rest of the edges are not aligned. Sew along the matched edges marked with the dotted line.

Step 6. Next, do the same thing with the remaining piece - lining up the red-dotted side and sew together.

Your finished piece will look similar to this. The edges will be uneven, but we trim them into a square next.
Step 7. Square up the block by using the ruler to get an even square block.

 

Step 8.  Repeat steps 4-7 with the remaining 7 blocks.
Step 9. Sew 4 of the blocks together to make a square. This is the front of your bag. Repeat for the back of the bag.

 

Step 10. Next, take 1 piece of the Nylon. place it against the right side of the fabric & sew along 1 side. Flip right side out.

 Step 11. Place 1 strip (either hook or loop side) of Velcro on the nylon side (notice the seam at the top of the bag). This will be the inside top of the bag. Sew on, making sure the cotton & nylon stay lined up as much as possible. Repeat with other side. You will now have 2 halves of your bag.

Step 12. Line up the 2 pieces, with right sides together. Sew along the 2 sides & bottom - I reinforced the top sides near the velcro, as this is a high stress area. Turn right side out - you are done!!

Here are a few more bags to give you ideas of what you can do! I would love to see pics of your bags - have fun!

Felt Cookie Tutorial

Everyone loves cookies! Especially Little Chefs, so here is my chance to share the love & give you the opportunity to make your own cookies! These are super easy, fun & infinite variations are out there for color & design combinations. Have fun!

Supplies:
Scissors
Cream Felt
Pink Felt
Cream Thread
Pink Thread
Needle
Poly Fill or Wool Stuffing

1.  Cut out 2 Cream felt (2 1/2") circles; Cut out 1 (2") Pink Felt circle, scalloping the edges however you like.

2. Pull out an arm's length of pink thread. Double up the thread so it is 2 strands thick. Tie a knot in the end & thread it on the needle. Starting on the underside of the cookie, bring the needle up through the 2 layers & back down. Continue along the edge of the pink felt in this whip stitch. Continue until you reach the beginning point & tie off the thread underneath the cream felt so the knot is not visible.

3. Pull out another arm's length of cream thread (Brown thread shown here for visibility). Double up the thread so it is 2 strands thick & tie a knot in the end & thread it on the needle. Insert the needle between the 2 layers & bring it up through the top layer (frosting layer) only - this is so the knot is hidden between the 2 layers.

This seam will be finished with a Blanket Stitch, which looks nice & neat,  but you may finish with  the same Whip Stitch as used with the frosting along this edge if you prefer.

Confused about a Blanket Stitch? See this tutorial from Primrose Design

Continue the Blanket stitch until you are about 1-2 inches from the starting point. Stop here.

4. Now take your Poly Fill stuffing & fill the cookie.

5. After the cookie is filled, continue your Blanket Stitch & close up the hole. Tie a knot at the starting stitch & take the needle through the middle of the cookie, bringing it out anywhere & cut the thread so it tucks back inside.

You are finished! Looks great, you did it & are on your way to being a Master Felt Pastry Chef. There are endless variations of frosting & cookie color & design combinations to play with. Try different shapes, colors & toppings for each cookie. Think felt, beads, french knots, etc...

I'd love to see what you come up with!

 

Cheers!