The other day, someone asked me about making reusable ‘bulk goods’ bags.  And I was surprised I had never thought of it before. There are tons of reusable grocery bags, but I still find myself with a half dozen small plastic bags of essential grains and spices when I leave the grocery store.  Instead of filling up those thin plastic bags with almonds, rice and pasta, you could bring cloth bags and fill them instead.  That way you wouldn’t need the plastic and you would have something more fun to put in your shopping cart (you can wash and reuse a fabric bag many times).  And they are simple to make.  So in honor of Earth Week why not make a few reusable bags from upcycled Goodwill shirts and see what you think. 

You will need:

-A few fun patterned cotton shirts, skirts, or cotton fabric from Goodwill

-Shoelaces, elastic, or ribbon

-Thread

First cut a piece of fabric 29 inches tall by 11 inches wide (you could cut two smaller pieces that were each 15x11, but I like to fold it in half so you don’t have a bottom seam.) Also cut a small piece of elastic about 11 inches, or a ribbon that is about 22 inches long.

Then fold your piece of fabric so that the right sides are out and there is a fold at the bottom.  Insert your ribbon or elastic on one side and pin in place.  Sew a straight seam along both vertical sides of the bag.

Next trim the sides and trim the bottom corners at an angle.  Flip the bag inside out and again sew a straight seam up the sides (making sure to encase the ends in this seam.)

Next fold down the top edge and stitch. Fold over again and stitch very close to the bottom edge of the seam. Now you’ve got a bag with enclosed seams and a tie.

If you like, you can also square off the bottom to do this, flip your bag inside out and bring the corner points together. Mark a line a few inches up from the point, and parallel to the top of the bag.  Sew across this line, and around the edges of the triangle to secure them to the bottom.  Then you are done!

Use less plastic this year, with simple projects like this one.  And make use of the great material resources available at Goodwill!