Reusable Sandwich Baggies

I feel like I am always trying to find little ways to recycle more and to reduce our use of plastics. I saw the idea on a mommy blog about how to make your own reusable sandwich wraps. I figured I would try it out- but made my own very simple pattern to be more like a bag for snacks as well.

What you’ll need:

*Polyurethane laminated fabric
--PUL refers to any fabric that has been laminated with polyurethane on one side to make it waterproof. I bought my PUL at Kids in the Garden
* 1-inch length of 3/4-inch-wide Velcro tape (or whatever you have lying around the house)
* Pinking Shears



Tutorial:

First I cut a piece of the PUL at 7''x17'' with pinking shears.

*see bottom for added info before sewing

I hemmed both short ends by folding over twice and stitching.

Then I had to find where I was going to put my velcro. I folded the short sides over to find the middle of my fabric and marked it with a pin. I then used a ruler an placed the velcro 1.5" down from the center of the pin on the "right" side of the fabric.


Then sewed it on.


I then found the center of opposite side of fabric and marked it with a pin. I placed the other piece of velcro right under the hem on the "wrong" side of the fabric and sewed it on.


I then made my pocket by folding the bottom up (where the velcro on the right side is) and measuring 5.5" then pinned it to keep it from slipping.


I then sewed along the "long" sides of the fabric making a pocket. I stopped at the top of where my hem was and back tacked a couple of times to make sure that the seam would hold.


I then made my corners by pinching the bottom of the corner making a triangle.




I pushed the seam over to face the back of the pouch and measured one inch from the top of the triangle to the middle of my seam. I then sewed across to make the corner.


Then I cut the excess off with pinking shears.



That's about it. The first three are in the wash right now. I will let you know how they hold up in the washer and dryer. I am a little concerned that the raw edges might fray a bit, but I am hoping that pinking the edges and having the plastic coating on the back side of the fabric will help keep it from fraying.



*So I washed the bags and they were fine as is, but I wanted to make them a little bit more "heavy duty."
All I did (which I recommend) is to add an additional single folded seam to the long sides of the fabric before you hem the short sides.
When I snipped the corners, instead of using pinking shears I used regular scissors then finished it with a zigzag stitch to bind it.
Overall, these 2 little extra steps will make it way more durable.