How to Make a Grocery Bag Out of Fabric

I love reusable bags. My family would probably tell you I am abdicated to them. The problem is the ones you buy in the store tend to be big and bulky which is great for a big shopping trip but not so much when you only need to run in the store for a few items. The bag I am about to share with you is a great, compact bag for those times you just need a few things.

Materials

• 1 yard of solid colored fabric 44 inches wide. (Since decorative fabric is more expensive, I use solid colored fabric for the bag and a decorative accent for the pocket.
• 2 -6 inch by 6 inch pieces of decorative fabric (Fat Quarters work great for this!)
• Sewing machine
• All purpose sewing machine thread
• Scissors / Rotary Cutter
• Ruler
• Chalk marker or Fabric marking pen

Instructions

Step 1. Fold and measure your solid colored piece of fabric 22 inches high by 18 inches wide. If your one yard of fabric is 44 inches wide, you should be able to fold your fabric into 4- 22 inch by 18 inch rectangles. With your marker, mark the measurements as they are in the image above.

Step 2. After marking your fabric, finish connecting the marks by drawing a line between the 2- 7 inch marks, then connecting the 3 inch marks to the 7 inch line.

Step 3. With a curved edge, or by hand, round the edges as shown in the image above.

Step 4. Cut away the unneeded fabric along your marked lines.

Step 5. You should now have 4 individual panels that resemble the shape of a grocery bag

Step 6. Take two panels and face them right sides together. Sew the outer edges together leaving and opening to turn your panels right side out when you are done.

Step 7. Top stitch around the top of each panel as marked here.

Step 8. Cut 2 -6 inch by 6inch squares. Face them right side to each other, then sew them along the outer edge leaving and opening at the bottom. Turn it right side out when you are done.

Step 9. Take one of your panels and sew the pocket on the front-center of your bag at the bottom (about 1/4 inch from the edge). When you sew the pocket, make sure the hole you left from the last step is facing the bottom so you sew it shut as you attach the pocket.

Step 10. Face two panels to each other, right sides in. Sew the side and bottom together. To sew the straps, lay the straps flat and over lap the ends slightly. Sew them together using a zigzag stitch.

Step 10. Turn your bag right side out and admire your work. To store the bag, you can fold the side toward the back, fold it down into a square at the back of the pocket, then turn the pocket inside out around it.

Reversible Grocery Bag Pattern

Do you want a reversible grocery bag pattern? You can still use the instructions above.

Use 2 different colored fabrics (2 panels of each). When sewing the panels together, sew one of one color to one of the other. Example- One blue to one green panel. Don’t forget to add a second pocket.

When assembling the bag, sew like color facing like color (Blue facing blue, or green facing green.

Don’t forget, these make great gifts!