REUSABLE GROCERY BAG

It's Farmer's Market season. Our Farmer's Market is on Thursdays, so I usually hit it up after work. There are booths with homemade crafts, aprons, pies, oh the pies! And I always find myself without a reusable bag. Maybe it is just too much to remember as I am walking out the door to work in the morning, but week after week I find myself shoving peaches in my computer bag. I think this tutorial might save me from all that. Between the Lines Blog posted this great how-to on t-shirt grocery bags, that looks fool-proof! I already have a few shirts in mind, and they are so small I can keep some in my work bag for those forgetful Thursdays.

What you need:

- an old T-shirt
- scissors
- matching thread
- sewing machine

Instructions:


1. Take an ironed adult size T-shirt, right side out. (You could use a kid's T-shirt for a smaller sized bag).

2. Fold it in half as shown in picture 2.

3. Cut off the sleeves as shown in picture 3.

4. Cut around the neck-line as shown in picture 4.

5. Sew the bottom of the shirt closed using a French seam. If you're not familiar with the French seam,  you sew the hem closed on the right side, turn the bag inside out and sew another seam, sandwiching the first seam inside. Next, sew boxed corners, as explained here, in step 1. You could iron everything flat now, if you like.

6. Place the bag in front of you on a flat surface. Starting from the bottom, fold over the bag as shown in picture 6, about 2 1/2 inch, that is.

7. Now, starting about 3 inches from the side, with your scissors make 1/2 an inch to 3/4 of an inch cuts through all layers, leaving about 1 1/8 inch between every cut. Continue like this all the way to the other side and stop about 3 inches from the side seam.

8. Next, fold it over some more (an additional 2 to 2 1/2 inch) and repeat the cutting, but now right in between two cuts from the previous line, as shown in picture 8.

9. Go on like this a couple more times, depending on the size of your bag - I did 5 rows in total.