By now everyone knows that at our house we have been slowly going green. It not only helps the environment but our budget as well. We have been using a lot of plastic bags! So, we began by washing and reusing the freezer bags that held things that were double wrapped like cookies, muffins and breads. But with the grandkids we were going through the regular sandwich ones faster than ever. Then someone gave me an article that said Americans use over 100 billion (that's 100,000,000,000) plastic bags every year. And that is just in the United States.! I know we could easily use half a dozen a day when the kids were staying over. So, we decided to switch to something reusable for anything that could be washed out. It really has been one of the easiest changes we have made. And the kids love picking their bag. They are easy to make and use up more of those fabric scraps we tend to hang on to.
I considered lots of ways to assemble the snack bag but since I wanted the instructions to work for 12 year old girls I decided the simplest way was best. You can make them other sizes as well but I wanted their front to fit in the hoop for the embroidery. So these instructions are for larger than normal bags (I have given the sizes for standard bags below). Here are the instructions for that method and size.
What you need:
- Two matching cotton rectangles 9"X14" (you can use two coordinating if you like).
- ¾" Velcro strip 8 ½" long.
- Happy Holiday embroidery (to download it click here).
- Two colors embroidery thread for the design.
- Tear away stabilizer (you can use cut away if you like).
- Coordinating all purpose thread.
What to do:
Fold your front rectangle in half widthwise and finger press to find the bottom of your bag.
1. Hoop your rectangle centering the top half in the hoop. (If you are making smaller bags you might have to hoop the stabilizer and center the top front using a little adhesive spray to hold it.)
2. Embroider your design. Remove from the hoop and tear away most of the stabilizer.
3. Position the two 9"X14" rectangles right sides together and pin the top and bottom edges. Sew across top edge using ¼" seam. Repeat across bottom edge. Turn right side out and press seams.
4. Place embroidered side down on flat surface. Pin one half of the Velcro strip centered across the top about 1/8" from top edge. Sew all the way around the Velcro to secure. Repeat for the bottom on the same side.
5. Fold in half with Velcro on the outside. Sew down each side ¼". Turn right side out.
6. Top stitch ½" in on both sides to hide the raw edges.
Stuff your bags with goodies and give them away.
Here are the finished sizes of standard plastic bags but feel free to make them whatever size you want.
Snack Bag - 6" wide by 4.5" high
Sandwich Bag- 7.5" wide by 6" high
Click here to download the My Snack design in the photo above.
If you want to see what else we did with the gingerbread man and download him click here.
Take care,
DB
PS: The girls are coming over on Friday and we will be making chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles to put in our bags. In case you want to try them here's my recipe:
Dipped Pretzels
- 8oz milk chocolate baking bar.
- 8oz white candy baking bar.
- 2 TBLSP vegetable shortening (like Crisco).
- Colored sprinkles.
- Large bag of mini pretzels or 20 large pretzels.
Melt the milk chocolate bars the microwave with 1 TBLSP shortening stiring every 30 seconds until smooth. Dip half of the pretzels allowing excess to drip off. Place on wax paper and decorate with sprinkles. Chill for 10 minutes. Repeat for the white candy bars.