I have these beautiful reusable glass baby food jars that, sadly, I tote around in ziplock bags in my purse when we're out and about. I finally made a little baby size lunch sack to carry them! This one is horribly mismatched -- blue and brown western print with black and white polkadots. But now I have a place for messy jars and spoons, and my purse stays clean! It fits 2 of these oversized glass containers with room for a spoon, small bib etc. You could probably fit 3 or more standard baby food jars, or use it for a pacifier, vitamins or medication or anything else you can think of. It would be easy to fancy this up with a strap, bow, pocket, etc.
All you need is 2 pieces of outer fabric cut to 7.5" x 8.5" and 2 pieces of acrylic/nylon/oilcloth (water resistant) fabric cut to 7" x 8.5". And a 9" piece of Velcro.
Put outer fabric right sides together and sew sides and bottom with 1/2" seam.
The next step is going to give that nice square shape to the bottom of the bag. I learned it here, and its a little confusing if you don't know what you're looking at, so I'll do my best to explain! Here's a picture of what we are producing. Notice the bottom seam and then the perpindicular seam that creates a square shape to the bottom of the bag:
This is what the following steps will produce. |
To get started, the bag should still be wrong-side-out with the bottom of the bag facing you, the bottom seam running up and down. Using both hands, pinch both pieces of fabric near the corner and pull apart. The fabric should be at a 45-degree angle. Make sure the side seam lies directly underneath the bottom seam.
Looking at the bottom seam |
Now we are going to find the spot where the fabric is 2" wide, which is 1" down from the corner. You can see by the 1" squares on my cutting mat how this forms a triangle. Draw a line at your 2" mark, and sew along the line.
Repeat on the other corner. Now you will have this:
Turn right-side-out. Look ma no hands!
Now do the same thing with your lining material (sew 3 sides together and sew your corners).
What to do with those pesky flaps on the corners? For the outer piece, the cowboy fabric, I left them there to help give a sturdier bottom to the bag. For the lining, I triple-stitched along my 2" line and cut the flaps off to reduce bulk.
Now place your lining inside... Try to keep seams open and the corner flaps on the bottom.
The outer piece should be sticking out 1/2" longer than the lining. Fold the outer fabric over the lining (to the inside) and place the velcro on top, and pin in place. Obviously, the fuzzy piece goes on one side of the bag and the scratchy piece goes on the other side :)
I used black thread up top to match the velcro and dark brown thread in the bobbin to match the cowboy print, hopefully your fabrics coordinate better than mine! Sew in a square around the velcro: Once you get the fabric positioned under the presser foot, it's not so tricky sewing around the opening. Oh yeah, the velcro is a bit longer so you don't have to be exact when you're pinning it, so you can just snip the excess after sewing. Just make sure you stop and turn when you get to the seams.
You're done!
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