Re-Useable Shopping Bag

Since the banning of plastic supermarket bags here is SA we have gradually worked our way through the stash of them we had in the cupboard. Im really glad they were banned, they were an environmental nightmare, but they were also very handy. Nice and compact and a great size for so many things.

I have bought a few cheap little fold up shopping bags that live in my handbag. They fold up nice and compact and are much easier and nicer to use than the 'green bags'.

How hard could it be to whip one up out of some fabric I thought? A while back I got some end of bolts of fabric from spotlight. Great patterns for the older boys, I plan to make some summer PJ pants from it and maybe even new quilt covers (I got about 15 m of each one!) and it worked out to only about 50c/m. what did I have to loose? (Except my sanity maybe!!!!) All I had to do was unpick a bag ( I had one that was starting to come undone at the seam anyway), draft a pattern from it, cut out the fabric and sew it up! An hour or so I thought - no worries! More like two and a half !!!!I guess it wasnt really that hard. Ive never really used bias binding before and I hate pinning things before I sew. Note to self - when trying to use said binding always pin it first to avoid unpicking and having to fix!!!! I sewed, unpicked and re sewed two of the four sections before I finally admited defeat and pinned it first..LOL it was then still a little tricky, but so much quicker and easier! Its a little rough around the edges, and apart from having a bit of trouble getting the biding to sit nicely around the flap section, Im really happy with the way it turned out. Should be a handy bag for one of the boys...if Isaac will let anyone else near it!!!

I can see quite a few of these getting made. I also want to try and draft a pattern for the black "greenbag" that I tend to cart all the kids stuff around in. Its the perfect size, but its pretty ordinary to look at - just need to find some suitable fabric and I will have a go!