Green bags

I hope that, by this stage in human evolution, everyone is aware of the importance of avoiding plastic bags (whether we do it is another matter). Of course, corporate evolution is never far behind human evolution (or is it one step ahead?)—so they sell reusable bags for about $1 each, always plastered with brand names.

Those mass-produced bags are good because they’re sturdy, plus their shape is perfect for packing groceries. But what if I don’t want to be a walking advertisement for one of the two major supermarket chains in Australia? Or what if I just don’t want to look like everyone else in the shopping centre?

Well, I have two choices. I can pay a bit more for bags with cool messages that I want to promote. Or, I can make my own. Then I can personalise them with different fabric prints (or just buy the cheap off-cuts, whichever), alter the size if I want, and I can choose materials that aren't made with plastics, like the mass-produced bags are.

So here is my step-by-step pictorial guide for making your own green bags....

What you need (for one bag):

2 squares – 30 cm x 30 cm
3 rectangles – 30 cm x 22 cm
2 handles – 10 cm x 60 cm
A bit of cardboard or stiff plastic - 28 cm x 20 cm
Needle
Thread
Optional: pins, iron, and/or sewing machine. These will make the process much, much quicker. But, even sewing by hand doesn’t take long for these simple bags.

What you do:

Cut your fabric (good luck doing this if you have a playful cat!) and decide which side you want to face out. Mark the OPPOSITE side with pencil or chalk to remind yourself later.

Take two rectangles. Place them together with both outsides facing in—you should be able to see the pencil marks. Line up the edges and sew about ½ a centimetre in along one of the short sides. Use a fairly strong stitch so the bag doesn’t fall apart when it’s loaded full of canned food or soy milk. Do the same thing with the other rectangle, and then with the two squares. Once you’ve sewn all four sides, you should have something that looks like this (forgive my uneven stitches, I was sewing by hand):

Next, hem the tops of each side panel. I didn’t do this on these yellow bags because I lined up the cutting just right and had un-cut sides of fabric along the tops.

Take two adjacent side panels and line them up, then sew them together. Repeat for the other four corners.

For the handles—Fold each 10x60cm strip of fabric in half (outsides in). Iron or press down with a ruler to make a crease. Sew both sides together along the length. Use your fingers or a pencil to turn the straps inside out.

Attach the straps to the bag—on the square sides, 2 to 4 centimetres from the corner, and 5 centimetres from the top. Sew these on strongly so the handles don’t break off when you’re walking home from the grocery store. Make sure the handles aren’t twisted before you attach the other end.

Once both handles are attached, you’re basically done. Stick the cardboard or plastic down in the bottom to make the bag sturdier, and go buy some veggies!

As you can see, we’ve been on a bit of a self-sufficiency kick lately, especially with the new bread maker, and with a few other things that I will reveal to you all shortly.

Multigrain bread baking in the bread machine.

In addition to continually reducing my reliance on corporations, I’ve also just been to a day and a half seminar on finishing my PhD on time... and spending so much time blogging isn’t the way to do it! So I’ll have to apologise in advance because I’m fully intending to get cracking on my work so my presence on other blogs will be noticeably declined, and my posting here may well become a bit more sporadic. I will still be around, just not as constantly. So keep your fingers crossed that the next 18 months go smoothly and I’m one of the few people who actually submits her PhD without extending beyond three years.