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Reversible, Ruffled, Reusable Grocery Bags

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I always try to remember to take reusable grocery bags to the grocery store.  Because I like to do my part, however small, to take care of this lovely Earth!  Also, because my bags are cuter than the ones the Grocery store sells for $1.99 each.   (And I think that $1.89 of that cost is for printing their own name on the bag.)

ruffled reusable reversible grocery bags

 Reversible, Ruffled, Reusable Grocery Bags

I chose WHITE as my color because it is my favorite color.  I made these ruffled grocery bags out of an old white sheet (No stains just old and nubby) and 2 cute pillowcases (because I wanted a little POP of color in the liner).

Sewing ruffled grocery bags

This is a really easy pattern that I made from looking at a canvas tote.  (It fits perfectly on a standard pillowcase)
*Seam allowance?  I run the fabric along the right side of the foot.  I think it’s a waste to take a wide allowance and then trim!
1.  Use the same pattern for the bag and the liner.  You could use the same fabric for both or mix it up for fun.
I like to use 2 different fabrics so I can flip it inside out and have a totally different bag!

ruffled reusable reversible grocery bags

2.  Sew all 4 pieces (excluding the bottom) together like this:  front/side/back/side making one long piece of fabric.
Sewing instructions for a grocery bag

3.  If you are going to add any kind of embellishment, now is the time.  I’m adding three rows of ruffles!

  1. To make my ruffles, I cut small slits in the fabric 1″ apart from each other.
  2. Then I ripped them the rest of the length!  If you’re not comfortable with the ripping technique, go ahead and cut 1″ strips.

Either use a ruffling or gathering foot, or stitch using a large stitch and pull one string to gather up your fabric.

How to sew ruffles

4.  I used a mark b gone marker to mark my fabric on the RIGHT side where I wanted my ruffles. (It disappears in the wash which is another great thing about these bags.  You can throw them in the wash.  Just make sure you wash your fabric before you start the project if using NEW sheets or pillowcases.)

I put the first row 5″ from the top.  Then the next row 1″ down from there and so on.
Sewing ruffles onto fabric

5.  Pin the ruffles on and sew right down each center line!

I didn’t do anything to the edges of the ripped ruffles.  It frays, but I like the raw edge.
How to sew a ruffled bag

6.  Now pin the sides together inside out making sure your rows of ruffles meet up and sew that together.

How to sew a reusable bag

7.  Pin the bottom on to make sure it fits and make adjustments accordingly. You might have to pinch the corners but it’s just a grocery bag.  No one’s judging!

Sewing a reusable grocery bag

8.  Now sew your liner the same way with or without the ruffles, depending on what you want to see when/if you reverse your reversible reusable grocery bag.  (I just wanted to say that again!)

9.  Pin the liner inside the bag so the WRONG sides are facing each other. (So you see the RIGHT side of the liner when you look in the bag.)

Ruffled grocery bag tutorial 15

10.  Cut a piece of either fabric about 48″ long and 4″ or 5″ wide.

  1. Iron it with the ends meeting in the middle.
  2. Fold it in half and iron again.
  3. Pin it onto the top of your bag with the fold at the top so the “band” covers both the inside and outside of your bag.
  4. When the ends meet, fold the top one under to make a hem so it overlap the bottom piece by about an inch.   (You might want to trim a little.)

sewing ruffled grocery bags

11.  I sewed close to the bottom edge and then went back and put a second row of stitching about 1/4″ from the first one both to strengthen the seam and because I like the look of a double stitch.

How to sew ruffles

12.  I cut 2 handles about 20″ long and 3″ wide and sewed them closed at the side and one end.

13.  Then I turned them right side out, snipped off the closed end, ironed them with the seam in the middle and sewed another ruffle in the center of each one.

Sewing ruffles

14.  Fold the ends under and pin in place.  I made sure my “band” ended where I was going to place my handle so that seam would be covered.

ruffled reusable reversible grocery bags

15.  Sew handles in place however you want. I sometimes do criss cross applesauce and a square around that.  This time I just did a double stitch at the top and bottom.

Now, I’ve learned from experience, that having a little tab to go over the metal hook-ey-ma-thingy at the grocery store is handy for holding the back of the floppy fabric bags up while you use one hand to hold the other end and another hand to load it up!

16.  Make a hanging tab.

  1. Cut a piece of fabric about 4″ long by 2″ wide.
  2. Fold and iron like you did for the top band (But fold your ends in first like I DIDN’T do in this picture).  It should end up being about 1/2″ wide.
  3. Sew it closed.
  4. Make a loop and sew it onto the front of bag.  I layed my tab down into the bag and sewed along the top because I didn’t want the tab sticking out when not being used.
All done!
Now you can turn it inside out when you want to mix it up.  Say, if you were wearing a white dress, you might not want white grocery bags too!
They’re not just for groceries either!  You could use them for picnics, the beach, a diaper bag, overnight bag…the possibilities are endless!  Like you needed me to point that out.
 You can REDUCE your plastic bag use by RECYCLING an old sheet into a REUSABLE all purpose bag!   Now that’s what I call “Going Green”!
So I went Green and White…  get it?  Ha!

Before you sew these bags, you might want to make a Magnetic Pin Holder to hold all your pins.  🙂

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Comments

  4. I love the hanging tab! Nice touch. And love that they are reversible. Great project Sandra.

    Thank you for being my guest!

  5. So I want to know, did you hand your camera to the man at the meat counter and ask him to take a picture of you with your adorable bag? LOL! Lisa~

    • I actually talked my husband into following me around the grocery store. Every time I looked at him I couldn’t help laughing because he was wearing my ruffled, polka dot camera strap!

      He really got into the role though, acting like what he imagined a pro would act like! We were getting lots of curious looks.

      The best part was at the register. I asked the guy bagging up if I could do his job for a photo. Everyone seemed amused and nice enough. He was smiling. He even said I could wear his name badge and orange jacket (but that offer came as I was just finishing up or I would have jumped on that!)

      I’m sure there were several people thinking, “Well, Bless her heart!” which I have learned is NOT a nice thing to think or say to a person at all! Oh well. We had fun with it. It doesn’t take much to amuse us! Date night activity- check!

  6. Is there anything you can’t do? I don’t think so. I justify my NOT using reusable grocery bags by recycling/reusing the plastic ones many times over. But if my life slows down any time soon, I think I will be tempted to make 50 of these (because that’s how many I would need for the kind of grocery shopping I do) – they are so adorable. Also, I have a couple old white sheets that I use for EVERY thing. They are the best. I don’t know what I’ll do when I run out of scraps from them. Maybe I’ll have to start buying fabric?

    • Well as long as you’re using them over and over, I won’t hate on the plastic usage. Haha I do love using sheets for fabric! I’ll go to Ross and get a twin set for $8 and it’s like 20 yards that would be at least a couple bucks a yard – if you got it on sale! And maybe not 20 yards but a heck of a lot more fabric than $8 would buy me anywhere else. It’s not that sturdy, but it’s great for this purpose.

      • I do the same thing at Ross! i’ve made many curtains out of sheets from there. my mother in law is so sweet. she always compliments my creativity and says if she tried to make curtain panels out of sheets it would just look like sheets on the windows. so love these bags… i might not forget mine all the time if they were THIS pretty!

  7. Sandra they are beautifully green. You know I’ll be making some too, thanks for the tut with sizing and the lining really completes it. No more ‘store bags’ for me (mine are ripping at the seams anyways). So glad you’re crafting while the house hunt is in a lull.

  8. Oh these are adorable. I love them. I’ve never had a go at making a bag before but think I might try now.
    Well done!
    ~Sam

  14. Love, love, love the ruffles!!! I have a suggestion for eliminating the pinning of the bottom and then sewing (I hate pinning). Eliminate the bottom piece. Use one long piece of fabric, bring the tops up to meet and sew the side seams. Decide how wide you want the sides to be and sew a seam that wide across the side seams on each side (that seam will make a plus sign with the side seam and you will have a triangle sticking out on each side). If you want more definition for a bottom, turn it right side out and topstitch around the bottom. Was that clear as mud? I can send a photo if that would help.

    That also makes a stronger bottom since there isn’t any seams that can rip out and spill your cans all over the place 🙂

    • Clear as mud! That is a great idea. I like having the “square” bottom so it holds a kind of rectangular shape but I think if you sewed around the bottom, it would work. Great suggestion. But go ahead and send me a picture for good measure. 🙂 Thanks!

  17. Oh my gosh. You are the cutest little grocery shopper ever. I am kind of glad you don’t live in my town… you’d make this lady who wears sweats and burp stained t-shirts to the grocery store look like an old hag! 🙂

    I love that you coordinate your bag with your outfit (or turn it inside out to match). Tres, tres chic, Sandra.

    • Well I only wear cute dresses to grocery shop when my polka-dotted strapped camera wearing husband is following me around pretending we’re on a Professional photo shoot! It’s good fun!

      The rest of the time, I wear sweats and t-shirts which I’m sure are stained with something if not baby burp.

    • Without the ruffles they are really fast. Maybe about 1/2 hour each. Of course, when you start adding ruffles and other embellishments it takes longer. But I got nothing better to do with my time right now. LOL

  22. I have been wanting to dress my drab premade bags that I have gotten here and there. Gosh now I might just have to make new ones after seeing yours!

  24. Ok…I tried the bags….ruffles and all…maybe its the fabric…maybe its the seamstress….I really wanted mine to look like yours…so much for inspiration. 🙁

  26. I am going to try my hand at making these this week or weekend. Two of my reusable bags just broke. Perfect timing. And these are a million times cuter than the ones from the store. Great tutorial!

  27. This is great! I just found a bunch of fabric that I had forgotten about so I will now put it to good use…

    Thank you so much for posting, I went to look at patterns the other day. Has anyone else been SHOCKED by the price of a pattern? It has been a long time since I actually purchased a pattern and just about fell over by the prices.

  30. The local Aldis store has tons of 5-sided boxes that fit into reusable bags almost perfectly. It makes the inside ugly, but makes the bag EXTREMELY durable since they are corrugated cardboard. I wonder if there is a way to incorporate a cardboard insert for the bottom. Not as strong as having a whole box liner, but prettier. With some kind of pocket it would still be washable. And (sigh) more complicated to make. Hmm. Waste of time if the fabric is durable enough without?

    • Sara putting a cardboard insert in the bag is a great idea I think. I wouldn’t try to sew it in because it would just turn to mush in the wash. You could insert it for use and then removed it to wash. Great idea!

  32. I love this idea! I’m making them for christmas instead of wrapping paper gifts come in bags! I was just wondering if i could fold down the top instead of creating the band(step 10) trying to get it all done with christmas 4 days away its easier to just fold n sew but i dont want to effect the strength of the bag. Thanks for the help and the GREAT tutorial!

  33. I really like these! I have also noticed that the ones I buy at the store are not as thick as they used to be. I think I might put 2 tabs on mine so they will stay open a little better. Thanks for the step by step with lots of photos!

  35. Hey just wanted to say I made this but I put a blanket between the layers (as batting) and then quilted it because I use mine as Library bag and boy do my books get heavy so I needed the extra support.

  36. Hello, I am new and I love these bags. Very cute. I definitely want to make these as gifts for all my girls.
    I do have a question though. What was the thread count of the sheets you used? I have some old sheets, but I don’t think they would work. Mostly because they are so thin that you can see your hand through them and that does not seem strong enough to me. Thank you.

  41. You can also use sheets found super cheap at thrift stores!!!!
    A king sheet will go for about $3.50 at goodwill.

    • if you use sheets – use a couple or three layers for every piece, or it will tear apart very soon.

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