Using the tutorial at the Creative Kismet blog I whipped these up. They don't take long and they use up the entire pillowcase, no waste.
After making the first one (the small one on the right) I modified what I was doing to make the bags a little wider. In the tutorial you are instructed to take a piece off the side of the pillowcase to use later for the handles. I found it made the body of the bag too narrow and tall (I folded the excess height down to the inside in that first bag) and yet I had plenty of length in the pillowcase to work with.
For the larger three bags I decided to take a piece from one end of the pillowcase for the handles instead. With the really long pillowcases I had (kings maybe?) the modification worked very well. The proportions, I feel, are perfect.
This pillowcase to shopping bag tutorial makes very strong, comfortable to carry bags. The side walls are double thick and the bottom section, which uses the pillowcase hem, is triple thick.
So now that I have some sturdy washable bags for getting groceries I should be able to accept less of the environmentally disastrous plastic ones. I've heard rumours that our community will be banning single use plastic shopping bags in the future.
5 comments:
Wow! This is a great idea! Your bags look amazing! :D
And the great thing Ruinwen is that they also work really well. I have a couple of other handmade bags that aren't nearly as roomy and sturdy, and easy to carry.
Oh very cute! I live in California where they've already banned single use plastic shopping bags. I really like the idea. There WAS a learning curve though. First I had to teach myself to actually remember the bags when I went shopping. Then we all have to be more patient because it takes longer to bag groceries in the random assortment of bags that shoppers bring with them instead of whipping all the stuff into handy, same-size plastic ones.
Still, these are small prices to pay for the environmental benefits. Yours look fantastic!
What does happen if a customer forgets their shopping bags when they get groceries Sweetsknit? Here, where they aren't yet banned, you end up accepting and paying for yet more plastic bags. Like you, I often forget to take the bags in with me (though they are stored in the trunk of the car) and even when I do remember I often don't have quite enough for everything. And what is done with meat? Right now I do ask that my meat be bagged in plastic rather than risk contamination of the reusable bags.
I guess Banned is a strong word. You can buy bags for $.10 a piece if you forget them. I hate doing that though so I will just bring the whole cart outside and tuck my groceries straight into the trunk and figure it out when I get home. And they still have plastic bags for meat and produce available for free in the store.
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