Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Homemade Reusable Sandwich Bags

*Update: After initially writing this post I started making these with water resistant ripstop nylon on the inside. It is more food safe and much lighter for an all together better result! I currently use ripstop nylon to make super compact travel diaper changing pads for sale in my Etsy shop, Seams to Streams.*



When I learned of the existence of reusable sandwich bags, I went googling to see what it was all about. I found this blog with a very user friendly tutorial on how to make reusable snack bags yourself. I saw elsewhere (can't remember where), that someone had made a sandwich wrap, but lined it material from a vinyl table cloth instead of PUL.

We had a vinyl tablecloth I was getting ready to get rid of! I preferred the sandwich bag idea over a wrap, so I combined the two ideas. I also had a couple of big pretty cloth napkins that had been given to me for sewing, so I used those as the outer fabric.

How to Make Reusable Sandwich Bags

1. First, I cut equal sized rectangles of fabric and tablecloth. I used an actual sandwich bag for sizing, so that folded in half the rectangles were 1 or 2 inches bigger than a sandwich bag:



2. Next, I placed the two rectangles with the pretty sides in and sewed them together at the ends. Just two straight lines! :)



3. Next, I turned the sewn together rectangles so that the fronts were facing out, and put a strip of velcro on the vinyl side, leaving room on the edges for sewing together later. In order to place the velcro accurately without bothering with too much measuring, I went ahead and stuck an equal size piece of velcro right onto the piece I'd already stuck. Than I could fold the material and just unpeel and stick the other side on.


4. I folded the rectangle with the vinyl/velcro side out (inside out), and sewed the two sides together. Just two more straight lines! :)


5. I turned it back, and the job was close to done, but something had to be done about that inner seam if I was going to carry a peanut butter sandwich in this!


6. So finally I sewed just two more straight lines down the sides with the bag turned right side out to enclose those seams. Here is the final product from the outside:

And from the inside:You can see it is the same size between the seams as a regular sandwich bag:





Just wipe and reuse!I've already tried it. It works great! Of course, you cannot put really hot things in there or heat it.

This has inspired quite a few more "reusable" ideas that I CAN'T WAIT to try! I'll keep you posted. I also found some beautiful "vintagey" fabric at a consignment store that I plan to make more of these with.

11 comments:

  1. This is a great idea!!!!! I was just thinking the other day on what a waste sandwich bags are. Have you thought about selling those? Maybe with some cute character prints? I would be interested in buying some because I have no crafty skills. Great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny...I was actually thinking this morning of making some more of those and a couple of other things and starting an Etsy shop. We'll see! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great tutorial, I bet I can do this! We use sandwich bags every day. They aren't expensive, but it's not environmentally friendly! I could get into this trend :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool Bag!!!
    Following you back from last week...gosh that is terrible huh??? I am a little late but none the less here and happy to be here! Thanks for stopping by my little food blog!
    Shamrocks and Shenanigans

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a great "green" idea!!! Super cute blog!! Have a good weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. cute - wish I had a tablecloth to work with!

    ReplyDelete
  7. summer (icouponjesussaves)June 30, 2010 at 9:37 PM

    great idea!!!
    christy - the dollar tree sells them sometimes or you can get them after a holiday at walmart for cheap-ola!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Amy,
    That is so great. Lola was in Kinder this year and every-time I used a plastic bag my heart hurt! Moses is starting this year and I am so excited to try this for them both!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great idea thanks for sharing. I never thought of a old vinyl table cloth.

    ReplyDelete
  10. New to following blogs and found your blog through Keeping it Simple's blog. Love these! Actually bought some from an etsy shop for my daughter. I like to sew but figured it was a good enough deal to have them done for me =) One thing if I might mention. A lot of people looking to buy these are looking for alternatives to anything with vinyl (PVC free, etc ) products being used. I believe the lady I bought from uses a rip-stop nylon lining. Just something to consider.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.