Scrappy Carrier Bag Store (Grocery Bag Dispenser) Tutorial

October is scrap busters month at Sew, Mama, Sew: what a brilliant idea! People who sew tend to gather piles and piles of scraps... we are reluctant to throw away even the tiniest bit of our lovely fabrics, right? Well, it's time to put them into use!

Today I'm going to try to show you how to make a scrappy carrier bag store (or, if you prefer, a grocery bag dispenser). Even though we're all trying to reduce our use of plastic carrier bags, some of them manage to end up inside a dawer or under the sink... So I suggest we start storing them in a neat, handy way!

-

Materials

- fabric scraps in matching/contrasting colours

- rectangle of matching/contrasting fabric for loop (for hanging) (50 x 6 cm)

- square of muslin (approx. 45 x 45 cm)

- braided elastic, 1 cm wide  (cut 2 lenghts of 15 cm)

- tailor's chalk

- rotary cutter

- clear plastic ruler

- self-healing mat

- pins

- all-purpose thread

- sewing machine

1. Select your fabric scraps. The goal is to end up with a 45 x 45 cm (approx.!) square of pieced fabric. I decided I'd construct 4 strips, each of them approx. 12 cm wide. So I cut my scraps into rectangles that were 12 cm long (all of different widths).

-

2. Piece scraps rather randomly. Aim for a total length of 45 cm (minimum), but don't worry if it gets a little longer, as you'll trim it later. Press.

-

3. Square it up. Repeat the piecing, pressing and squaring up 3 times. You'll end up with 4 pieced rectangles, each of them measuring approx. 45 x 12 cm.

4. Arrange the strips in a pleasing way and sew them together. Press.

5. Square it up. This is the carrier bag store's outer fabric.

6. Place the pieced fabric on top of your muslin and cut along the sides. You'll get a piece of muslin that has the exact same mesurements as the pieced fabric. The muslin is the inside (lining) of the carrier bag store.

7. Pin in place.

8. Trace lines for quilting with tailor's chalk. I traced mine 2,5 cm apart.

9. Quilt it.

10. Zig-zag all around the rectangle.

11. Get one lenght of elastic. Fold and press one raw edge (wrong sides together), approx. 1,7 cm.

12. Sew in 0,5 cm from raw edge.

13. Attach a safety pin to one end of elastic and insert it into the tube you just made. Stitch the other end of elastic (the one that has no safety pin) to the end of the tube. This will prevent the elastic from "escaping".

14. Push and pull the elastic through. Distribute the fabric equally throughout the elastic. Get rid of the safety pin and stitch the other end of the tube, making sure you enclose the elastic. Repeat with the other raw end.

15. Turn the pieced sides together (lining facing up), pin in place and sew. Turn it inside out.

16. Take the 50 x 6 cm rectangle for loop, sew right sides together (along the lenght)and turn it inside out. Press. Now pin the loop in place and sew. Stuff the top with those nasty plastic bags and pull them out of the bottom. You're done!

(images: Constança Cabral)