Make your Own Bags

I've been hunting for reusable bags to use for veggies at the Farmer's Market. I found a few on Etsy but what I wanted to find was a pattern to make some. Alas, I'm not a great seamstress and the thought of trying to sew with a "holey" (netting) fabric made me cringe.

Well, here's the Eureka moment! Thanks to The Frugal Country Mom I no longer have to contemplate this and I already HAVE some of these bags including my old dip bag (for dishes) from Girl Scouts. {smacks forhead for NOT thinking of this already}. LOL

But, if you'd like to make some bags, check out this site GreenBagLady. Now I can sew straight lines, so I'm going to whip up a few bags today using her patterns. What a cool site!

All of this started with a comment by Marianne on Down To Earth. So, thanks again for the awesome bunny trail to follow. Another thing crossed off my to do list (find bag pattern.)

As soon as I whip a bag up, I'll post a photo of it. :)

UPDATED: Ok, now you see the bag I made! It was pretty simple even for someone who hasn't sewn in ages. I do have an issue with my sewing machine - it won't "keep" a zig zag stitch. It'll go for a few inches, then drop back to straight stitch then go back into zigzag mode.

I inherited the Singer from my husband's grandmother. She sewed all her families clothes on it! The first thing I made was a Log Cabin quilt for my husband as a wedding gift. Honestly, had I known what I was getting myself into, I doubt I would've tackled that as my first real project! LOL But, it turned out great as did all the other quilts I made on it. I may try to find someone that has a serger to do the handles for me - that's my only concern that the zigzag will frey and the handles will come apart.

My birthday wish came true

I've always had a fierce love for laundry hanging on a line, snapping in the breeze. My great grandma used to babysit us and she actually let us play in the laundry. Well, not the just washed stuff, but she would hang up sheets and blankets and we'd play for hours.

Fast forward to my newlywed years. My DH and I rented our first "house" that came complete with a laundry line in the yard. It was a square affair and dippy and crooked and it was just mostly a pain, but I did use it. Then, we moved into our next house that was built in the '50s and it had the more traditional T-posts with lines strung between. That house saw plenty of cloth diapers and baby stuff added to the usual 2 loads a week. Our next house also had a laundry line, but it ran in the midst of cedar trees. I'm sure when they were planted, no one ever thought they'd grow so wide. I implored my DH to dig them up and move the posts, but alas, he wasn't ever able to do that. He did put up some new wire between trees which worked nicely.

After 13 years of marriage, we finally bought our first house. It had everything on my list of wants/needs except the clothes line. DH promised he'd put one in for me. Every year for any gift giving holiday, I asked for a clothes line. Dozens of holidays have come and gone and this year, in honor of my birthday, I bought myself the cadillac of clothes lines, the Breeze Catcher 140.

It has all the best features: tons of hanging space (holds 3 full loads of clothes), spins with the minimum of breeze (we have plenty of that), folds down like an umbrella and if need be, can be removed from the ground and stored during the winter. OH, and it's rust proof.

The only trouble we had is that it's so windy here, that we ended up cementing it into the ground (after we had it inside the recommended cement block). And, that's really no trouble at all. They even sell the pipe that goes into the cement, in case you ever want to move the system and re-install it somewhere else.

All in all, truly one of the best gifts ever!