The bottom, straps and pockets are an orangey denim, very stiff. I wanted something about the size of a standard paper grocery sack, but a little wider, with straps that I could hang on my shoulder. I also wanted it sturdy enough to carry cans, bottles of V-8 or fruit juice, etc.
I probably could have gotten this thing done faster if I'd had a pattern to follow, but all the patterns I saw weren't the right size, didn't have the heavyweight fabric on the bottom, or didn't go up the sides as far as I wanted. I'd hoped to have the straps meet at the bottom of the bag, maybe even go into the center bottom seam, but I wanted them long enough to go over my shoulder more than I wanted them to go all the way across the bottom.
My machine didn't like sewing on the thickness of the denim, especially when I made the straps and stitched them down over the sides of the pockets. I finished off the inside too, zig-zagging the edges of the denim so they wouldn't fray, and using bias tape to encase my two side seams.
Toby is the resident Siamese inspector you see in the picture. He has an oversize bump of curiosity and has to follow me from room to room wherever I go. He tells me I should have made it even bigger, to carry the LARGE size bag of MeowMix. :D
6 comments:
Lovely big bright strong bag! Good for you trying to use less plastic....I do too and have made shopping bags, but still seem to acquire a few plastic ones here and there.
I remember a time before there were such things as plastic bags - and we managed fine.
This turned out great! The orange isn't quite as "orange" as I had pictured! Nice bag.
Oh it turned out wonderful! Who needs a pattern - looks like you did wonderful without!
Pretty tote bag, and it is nice to be able to use up your stash. I want some grocery store bags!!
I made grocery bags for my nieces and nephews as Christmas. I made one large one like yours and two smaller ones that fit inside it (also one of the smaller ones has a coated fabric as a liner so anything that could leak can go in those.) I think they work pretty well and look good too!
Very nice. I started some of my own with some old pillow ticking. If you worked where I work, and did what I have had to do in the past, you'd curse every plastic bag you have ever seen!
I have 10 bags cut out, but mine are not as nice as yours! You can see MINE on some older posts on my blog: samquilts.blogspot.com
I'm in middle TN.
Sam
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