DIY Reusable Canvas Fabric Lunchbag For Your Wee Ones (Or Maybe Even You)!

Okay, so I was bopping around on the internet looking for some interesting goodies to share with the Greenwala community when I came upon Kate Pruitt's fantastic little tutorial on how to make your own reusable lunch bag.

With the kiddies back in school, this seems like a well-timed project and it's extremely "green" considering that it basically helps you abolish paper bags in your household altogether.

Of course there are tons of commercially made versions, but this one is (in my opinion) way nicer.

So, without further ado, I take my hat off to Ms. Pruitt and will post her instructions below in their entirety via Design*Sponge.

Materials:

1. striped canvas fabric (1 yard)
2. sewing machine
3. red and cream thread
4. black fabric marker
5. ruler
6. scissors

Instructions:

1. Take your fabric and lay it on a flat surface. measure and cut out a large rectangle that is 34.5 x 33 (the 34.5 should be cut parallel to/along with the stripes, and the 33 should be cut perpendicular/through the stripes). this will be for a bag that is 8.5″ x 11″ (of course!) and 7″ deep. actually, the bag is really 12″ tall so that when you fold over the top and clip it shut you still have a 8.5″ x 11″ writing surface on the front.

2. Cut out four 12.5″ squares from each corner of the rectangle. this leave you with a cross shape that is the shape of your bag with .5″ seam allowance on all sides.

3. Using cream thread, hem the top of each flap by folding down .5″ into the inside lining of the bag.

4. Draw a light vertical pencil line 2″ from the right edge on both the front and back of your bag, on the side of the fabric faces out (the outside of your bag). sew a line of red thread down this pencil line from the very top of the fabric to the bottom of the flap that makes that side of the bag. this is the guideline of your "notebook" paper.

5. Now turn you fabric so the inside of the bag is facing out and sew each flap to the flap next to it, sewing in .5″ in from the edge (you can use cream or red thread for this, i used red). when you are finished snip the excess thread and flip inside out.

6. You now have your bag complete!! you can write whatever you want however you want with your black fabric pen. if you want to write it first with a light pencil and then go over it to ensure good penmanship, feel free!

YOU'RE DONE!!

You know what I'm thinking?  Why not try this out using the fabric from an old pair of jeans??

It would be just as durable as the canvas fabric depicted in this photo but maybe just slightly "cooler".