Cotton Reusable Snack Bags Tutorial

In efforts of cutting out excess waste in my life, while reading the book 7, I was inspired to create some reusable cotton snack bags.  These have been on my wish list for awhile.  But I have that creative issue of not getting myself to buy things I know I can make.  I finally bit the bullet and decided to sew up some of my excess quilt fabric to create these reusable bags.  I use them for all kinds of things from organizing jewelry when traveling to a quick snack to take in the car.  

Many of these reusable style bags come with some sort of plastic lining on the inside to wipe clean.  Since I was having a frugal and green moment, I went with just what I had which was cotton.  I figured, these can easily be thrown into the washing machine while saving me a trip to the fabric store.  But if you are going to be all in on these, having a cleanable liner for the insides is a wonderful idea!  Send me one when you make some, okay?! 

In my normal creative but lazy manner, I did not measure any of my fabric.  Instead I just lined up different fabrics, cutting a matching pair.  

To start, you will need two identical sized pieces of fabric.  One for the outside and one for the inside.  These pieces will be folded in half to create the pouch, so take into consideration that you want double the length your bag will be.

Sew both pieces together, almost all the way around, leaving a section on the top open (see next photo), with patterns facing each other.

You will leave a section on the top side open to flip the bag inside out.  Outside in.  I guess I shouldn't joke during tutorials as that might be confusing.

There is your little flipping section.

Flip it inside out.  

To finish off the open edge, I just sewed a line on each side of the bag so they matched.  

From there, sew Velcro on the inside fabric.  You could sew the Velcro before hand but I do not plan ahead like that.  I like to pretend my exposed seams are intentional and part of my design. :)

So this photo is thrown in as an after thought.  After making a few bags, I decided I wanted to add in a coordinating fabric pattern.  At this point or earlier, while setting up your two pieces of fabric, you can sew on another piece of fabric in the center to create a bottom band.

Back to Velcro.  Sew it down.

With your inside fabric facing out (with Velcro), fold your bag and sew up the sides.

Once sewn, flip your bag inside out.  See my exposed stitches are almost like a design!  

And there you have it!  Sew cute!  I will tell you I do not sew much besides hemming my pants.  This is probably one of the most high quality sewing projects I have ever done.  They just feel nice.  I am really proud.  Sewers everywhere are rolling their eyes at me.

I went a little crazy.  I figured I might as well make the most of my motivation and sewing table set up in front of the TV.  I made as many bags as I could with all my remnant scraps.  

Here are a few of my proud designs.  See they are all imperfect yet coordinate well.  No need to measure!

I made a variety of sizes based on the fabric I had so that I could have many bags to choose from come snack time.

And this is where I started pretending that I had an Etsy shop and I would sell them as sets.  

So impressive, right?  

Pretty ridiculous, huh?  I may never sew again but I have these bags to prove I did once.

And here they are with snacks.  In case you couldn't imagine it on your own.

Joking aside, I do really love these bags.  Here is an example of the bags being put to use on a recent road trip we went on.  Though many of the snacks I buy for trips are already in packaging, I like to open them up and put them in resealable containers.  It prevents from garbage building up in the car as well as keeping everything fresh.  

I like to use store shopping bags to hold my fruit (the Victoria's Secret ones are nice and sturdy) as well as Ikea cereal holders for crackers.  And my go to road trip snack bag is the large utility totes from 31.  They have a metal top edge that keeps the bag standing up in the car.