The plastic bag is dead, long live the home-made grocery bag!

Not sure how the rest of the world views plastic carrier bags, but in the UK they're definitely an endangered species.

 I've carried a motley assortment of bag-for-life type carriers for many years but they are still plastic and well...not the most stylish accessory. Although I do get a peverse pleasure out of using the 'wrong' carrier in a supermarket...Asda bag in Tesco's, Tesco's bag in Waitrose (when I've been paid), Sainsbury's bag in Aldi (when I'm broke...) That's just the rebel in me......

But enter the home-made and decidedly more chic grocery bag (shopping bag, tote...call it what you will).

My bag started life from as a collection of fabric donated to me by a lovely friend at work. I used the 3 pieces in the bottom right corner for this project.

pieces of fabric

I played around with numbers and sketches, deciding on a 3 tone bag dictated by which pieces of fabric were bigger, The fabric was a heavyweight cotton so I didn't need to line the bag.

And here's the finished bag




I squared the bottom of the bag to make it more stable when packing, and reinforced where the handles join the bag with a box and cross stitching arrangement. The fabric was pre-washed to avoid shrinkage as I want to be able to wash my grocery bags in the future.

I loved my bag so much I made a couple more.

homemade grocery bags

Oooh get me with my matching shopping bags! Soooo much more stylish when one is perusing the aisles of the Marks and Spencers Food Hall, and equally at home buying spuds from t'market!

Comments

Pootle said…
Check you with your posh shoppers! These are great. Love the colours you have used. x
Wag Doll said…
Thanks Pootle - I showed them on MSE a couple of months ago, before my blog was started. So I'm just going back through my makes. Forgot how much I like them :-) xx
Lovely bags, I've been using my own bags for a while now. However I will admit to using an Aldi Bag in Tesco LOL!
Tillyflops said…
fab bags, i too must admit, when the cashier in Asda says have you got your own bags..we say yes, and bring out the big morrisons ones lol. xx
The bags are fab!! I love the colours :D Ab xx
Anonymous said…
Ooh I love them!! Really stylish! x
NVFP said…
These are great! I love them! Would love to have the time and skills to make some myself, will bookmark this page though and visit back when I get my act together heehee x
emma said…
Very nice, much more stylish than plastic bags! I'm also guilty of whipping out bags from different supermarkets to the one I'm in - but I think that's OK.
Anonymous said…
How cool would it be to do my weekly shop and instead of whipping out 8 tatty supermarket jute bags whip out my own creations ?!
Brill! I'm off to dig about in my fabric stash - it's been gathering dust of late !
Unknown said…
These look great! I have a little bit of a thing for canvas shopping bags and seem to be accumlating a collection!
Rebecca English said…
Great bags - and so much nicer than a plastic bag!

By the way found this post through Love New Blogs.
These are great. Love the colours you have used

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absolutely love these Brij, they look fantastic! k xxx
Unknown said…
Paint (for plastics) is probably your best way of getting it done right.
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