Made By Lex

Recycled Lunch Bag Tutorial

August 20, 2011 1:35 pm

 

 It’s that time again! School supplies, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc… This year I gave the girls a choice. They could buy either a backpack or lunchbox and I would make the other. They chose to buy backpacks so I researched exactly the type of bag I wanted to make. My goal was to make it with recycled materials. I decided to do a fused plastic bag “fabric” and embroider it with scrap fabric. Instead of showing you my own ways of doing it, Dana at MADE did a great synopsis of how she did her  recycled grocery bags and referenced some other helpful sites. My only other addition is that to fuse them, I used butcher paper to sandwich the bags. It worked just great. Also, I didn’t want to go out and have to shop to get my plastic bags. That just seemed wasteful to me since I was trying to make something recycled. We already use recycled bags for any shopping so I didn’t have any around. I used freecycle to get bags and ended up with all I needed!

So to begin my tutorial, we’ll start with your already fused bags.

I let the girls choose whatever fabrics they wanted and shapes and embroidered them right on to the plastic. It’s extremely easy to sew on so don’t be afraid.

Next, I prepped my bag. You need a bottom, two sides and a front and back. ( you also need a flap over, but we’ll get to that later.) This isn’t rocket science. Sew them all together. I serged mine with colorful thread. If you don’t have a serger, use a thick zig zag stitch.

Next I made a strap out of fabric and attached it securely to the sides.

For the flap I cut out their names and did a stitch around the edges.

Then sew them on then attach it to the back piece of the bag so it folds over the front.

Add some velcro to the flap and the bag to keep it closed and you’re good to pack a lunch!

I love it with our reusable snack bags and lifefactory water bottles. So cheery!

Here is the back of them.

And most importantly, don’t forget to include lots of love notes.

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Tags: childrens, fused plastic bags, lunch box, recycled lunch bag, tutorial, upcycled
Posted in home, refashions | 9 Comments »