Fall is here, school is in session, and depending on what part of the country you’re in, it also means that Fall harvest is in full swing. So along with the return to the post-summer daily grind, we’re back to preparing lunches and packing snacks to keep both energies and spirits high in the face of the impending doom of cold for some, and darkness for all.
You’ve probably already busted out those Fabric Lunch Bags we taught you to make a few months back. But now it’s time to step it up a little and making a set of reusable snack bags – and complete the whole eco-friendly lunch-packing theme we’ve got going on.
These little bags are perfectly sized to fit a standard sandwich or a few cookies – or any snack you would normally put into a plastic ziplock bag. Just keep in mind that because they are made of fabric, wet foods don’t work too well.
You could get around this by lining the bag with some sort of waterproof fabric, but after doing some research, we weren’t convinced that the commercially available options were very food safe. So we’re erring on the side of caution and recommending you use a mid-weight cotton or linen with a tight weave, and stick to the dry stuff. It’s enough to keep crumbs out and easy enough to wash by hand or in the machine.
What You Need
Scissors
Fabric of choice (we recommend a mid-weight cotton or linen with a tight weave)
6.5″ strip of Velcro
Sewing machine
1. Cut fabric using the template in the left diagram (measurements are in inches).
2. Hem the short ends of the fabric by turning raw edge over 1/4-inch, then again 1/4-inch, before stitching it closed. Position velcro directly under the hemmed edges and attach.
3. Fold fabric in half, wrong sides facing each other. You should be able to keep it closed using the velcro.
4. Using a 1/4-inch seam allowance, stitch the sides closed. Go over the stitch with a zig-zag seam to keep the fabric from unravelling.