Sew A Foldable Shopping Bag

1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Stephanie with cross-cut sewing. And today we are going to make these reusable grocery bags. I loved this project because it's so practical. Now you will always have a stylist shopping bag handy. These bags are designed to fold up into the pocket so you can toss them in your purse or a fit a bunch of these in one bag and take them with you anywhere. All you need is to half yards of fabric. So it's a fully lined bags which makes it really sturdy. And the pattern makes the most of your fabric with as little waste as possible because of course it's supposed to be an environmentally friendly project. The lining not only adds strength, but it also means no exposed seams, and it also makes the bag reversible. In addition to your basic sewing supplies, you will need a happier to fabric for the outside and happy yard for the inside. You will also need to print the pattern which is in the link in our description. You will have to assemble it like this. So I just fold it along the dotted lines and then just align all of these notches up together and tape it in place. I already cut out the pocket piece which was up here. 2. Cut the Fabric: So the first thing I'm going to do is line up my fabrics. We have my folded edges here and my salvage edges here. I'm gonna learn these apprehend as best as I can because I'm going to try to cut these out together. I have my pattern piece that I already cut out. I'm going to place this like this. And you don't want these edges on the fold. But you do have your pocket piece on the ball just like that. I'm going to go ahead and trace around this. I'm just going to get to this place. Now I'm going to cut this out. I am going to do all four layers, both fabrics at the same time. But if you are more comfortable doing one at a time, that's fine too. My pockets. Since this is an eco-friendly project, if you have some old fabric or some old bed sheets, It's a great way to recycle those as well. Now I have my pattern pieces cut out and my pocket pieces. 3. Sew the Pocket: So I'm going to start with my pocket pieces. I'm going to line these up, right sides together like that. So around these and I'm going to leave an opening so I can turn it around after. I'm using a quarter inch seam allowance for this project the whole time. Okay. I'm just going to cut the corners. That will help those lay nice and flat. When I turn this around, you can use whatever tool that you have handy to poke these out. I'm just going to give this a nice press, so it's nice and flat. Now this is nice and flat. I am going to, I think I'm going to have this side here be my main side. I'm going to take one piece of this fabric. I'm gonna take my pattern, these and just play this back down on here for a second. I have my pocket placement marks and I put those right on the patterns so you don't have to measure those. I'm just going to transfer those marks. Then I'm going to add my pocket. It doesn't matter. You can have a go either way. I'm just going to align those corners up with those marks just like that. And I'm making sure that the opening is on the bottom because I'm going to so this shut. I'm going to pin this in place. I'm going to so close to the edge, I'm gonna start here in back stitch. So right along this edge, just like that. Okay. 4. Sew the Handles: Now the assembly of this is a little different, but what we're going to do is take one piece of lining, one piece of exterior fabric in line these up. Right sides together. I'm just worried about this top part here. I'm going to, so this curve here and this kind of U-curve here. And this here, I am not selling these. I want to leave this open. I'm using a quarter inch seam allowance. I'm going to do the exact same thing on D2 remaining pieces. Okay, so now I have sewn both sides, and I am just going to trim these curves a little bit so that they lay flat. I like to use my pinky shears for this. If you have some on hand, you can use those. You can just trim a little bit into the curves. Try not to cut your stitches. If you don't have thinking shares, you can just few little notches in to those curves just to help them lay flat. Then I'm just gonna take one side of this and turn it right side out. While I have this flat, I'm gonna go ahead and press this side. I just find it easier to do this at this point. I'm going to lay flat. And if you clicked your curves and everything's going to lay nice and flat. And this whole thing. Okay, so now that's nice and flat. This part of the assembly is a little different and it took me when I was trying to figure this out and write this pattern. It took me awhile to figure this out, but trust me, this will work out. So what you're going to do is open this layer up. You're going to slide this. So I want my blue sides together and my peach sides together here. I'm going to take my strap. Just going to bring it all the way through this strap here. And I'm going to try to get it to lay nice and flat. I'm going to do the same thing on this side. Even when I've made, haven't made one of these for awhile. I go to make this. I always have to think if I'm doing it right, but I promise this is the right way. If you can see I'm gonna pull these way out just so you can see how I have this. I have this lined up and I can see that those sides are together. And those sides are together. All I'm gonna do is sew straight across here. Let me mine this side of this is probably going to take a lot of wear and tear. I know I always pack my grocery bags really heavy, so I have less to carry. It's also kind of like a challenge. You want to make sure the seam is nice and strong. So you can do quite a bit of back stitching just to make sure that's nice and strong. Now the fun part, we're going to take these apart. Now your bag should look like this. You have both handles joined. I am going to go ahead. I already pressed one side. I'm going to go ahead and press this side here. 5. Finish the Bag: All right, now, are all pressed. I'm going to take my exterior pieces and bring these right sides together. My interior, I have both sides, right sides together. And I'm going to start by matching these up at the seam. Like that. I'm going to clip that. The other side over here. Clip all around us. Now I'm going to, so this I'm gonna, so this whole side here, I'm gonna so both bottoms and I'm going to so this side, but on this side I made some marks here and I'm gonna leave this open so that I can turn my bag around when I'm done it. Now, I'm going to box these corners. And this will give our bag a little bit of a base. Basically just taking the bottom seam and the side seam in bringing those together. So if I open this up like this, you can see how those come together like that. I'm going to line up those teams just like that. And put a clip. I'm going to so right across that. I'm gonna do that on the other three corners. I sewed each corner and now I'm going to turn my bag right side out through the opening that I left there. Then we just need to stitch up that opening. If you really do plan on making this a reversible bag you could hand so that close. Bet you don't see your stitches. But I think for this, I'm just going to sew it on the machine. So I'm just going to give that a little press that close. So just so close to the edge just to make sure I catch everything. You can be finished with your bag at this step, I do like to top stitch around the handles because one of the great things about these bags is that they are machine washable. So as soon as you get home from the grocery store, you can throw these right in the wash. If you want to top stitch, you can just stitch close right around here and then around the sides as well. And then you can fold it up and take it with you to fold it. Just kind of tuck that in. It helps if you press the fold marks the first time you do this. But you can fold this up to the pocket line and then fold these down. And then just kinda full besides and where the pocket is to just flip this around until it's ready to take with you. That's it. I hope you love your bag. I would love to see it. So share a picture. Thank you for sewing with me.