Tutorial : Grocery Bag Holder

Today I’m going to have a go at writing a tutorial on how I make my Grocery bag holders; hopefully you will find it easy to follow. I recently purchased a new machine and wanted to complete a simple project on it. For this tutorial I used half a metre of Riley Blake Blue Chevron fabric, from The Oz Material Girls Supplies: ½ metre of fabric 30cm piece of 6mm elastic Safety pins or Bodkin Finished Size: 58cm long x 40 cm wide

Cut out a 64cm long x 42cm wide piece of fabric for the  main bag and a 35cm x 6cm strip of fabric for the plastic bag holder strap

Step One  Grab the strap piece and fold lengthways, wrong sides together and press to crease. Unfold, place raw edges along crease and press. Fold again and stitch close to lengthwise edges. Put aside.

Step Two   With the main 64cm long x 42cm wide piece of fabric, using an overlocker or zig-zag stitch, sew around all four edges of fabric.  (I used an overcasting stitch on my new sewing machine, as my overlocker wasn’t playing nice.) Fold over 3 cm at each short end, press to make a crease, this helps later when you need to make the casing. Place fabric right side up, and with one short end still folded using a fabric marker or pencil mark 6cm from the top fold and 4cm from the edge, making an L shape mark, this will be where the strap will be attached. Place both ends of strap on the mark and pin in place, making sure it isn’t twisted. Sew the strap on to the bag, I normally just sew a square on each to secure. Of course you can do it any way you like.

 

Step Three Now grab the main piece, open up the folded ends and match up the edges on the long side, this will give you the tube shape of the plastic bag holder. Making sure the top and bottom line up evenly, pin in place. Starting at the top using a 1cm seam allowance sew down the length of the fabric Press seams open.  

Step Four Now fold over both edges 3cm using the crease as a guide, give it a good iron and pin in place.  Mark a 1cm gap on the seam at both ends and using the free arm on your machine sew around the tube starting from one mark to the next, leaving a small gap to insert the elastic. Tip: make sure the strap is out of the way when sewing the casing on the top. With that done grab your elastic and two safety pins and pin one end of elastic to the fabric near the gap (this is so you don’t lose it) attach another safety pin to the other end of elastic and thread it through the casing, when the elastic is through the gap grab both ends and tie a knot. Repeat with the other end. Pull bag right side out and voila!  You have made a grocery bag holder.
These would also look fabulous in the new Geo Canvas range by Robert Kaufman

If however you prefer to purchase them you can buy them from store at  www.hand-made.com.au/LindabearsHandmade or contact me at www.facebook.com/LindabearsHandmade