A lot of hope rests in this little lunch bag:
- healthier lunches
- savings of dollars
- thinner thighs
- never having to eat the cafeteria’s sloppy joe again
- etc.
The first time I saw oilcloth, it was in a kids catalog, maybe Magic Cabin or something. A large piece of it had been edged and they were using it as an under-highchair splat mat. I thought it was pretty awesome, but we were beyond the age where we needed a splat mat. It’s taken me this long to realize that you can make things other than splat mats out of oilcloth.
Make Your Sack Lunch, a lunch bag tutorial
You will need:
- 1/4 yard (not fat) oilcloth. I got mine at Sew Mama Sew. Modern oilcloth is pretty much like vinyl and not oiled cloth
- 1/4 yard thin batting
- 1/4 yard other plastic fabric for lining. I used a shower curtain because I had it left over from making sit-upons.
- 3.5 in piece of velcro
EDIT – I thought I’d respond to a couple questions I got from people:
The oilcloth can be a bit of a challenge to sew, so you will probably be wrestling the material in your machine a bit more than you would with quilters’ cotton. You can line the bag with something other than vinyl. The vinyl was what I had handy, and it is easily wipeable, so that’s what I opted for. This pattern would also work for sturdy, non-plastic materials, like canvas. Hope you’re enjoying this and making some awesome lunch bags!
- Cut one 7in x 31in rectangle from the two plastic fabrics.
Cut two 4.5in x 13in rectangles of the two plastics.
Cut the batting the same as the plastics, except make it 1/4in smaller on all sides - For each piece, sandwich the batting between the oilcloth and the vinyl.
- Sew the fuzzy side of the velcro to the long piece of oilcloth so that the top of the velcro is 3/5in from the top edge.
- With wrong sides facing line up the long edge of one of the smaller side pieces with the edge of the long main panel. Sew along this edge with a 1/4in seam.
- When you get 1/4in from the corner, stop and backtack. Turn the long piece at a right angle, folding it along the edge of the short side of the edge piece. Stitch and repeat with the other corner.
- Repeat with the other side panel
- If the top edges are uneven, trim them. Then sew the prickly side of the velcro right at the top of the wide side of the lunch bag that does not already have velcro.
- Stitch around the top edge
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Damn. That is TOTALLY AWESOME.
Seriously – v v cool.
It makes lunches look really good too!
I really like the oilcloth fabric, I love green. Thanks for the tutorial, my daughter will love a new lunch bag!
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Love the lunchbag and think I need to make one.
SO cute!
This would make a great teacher gift. You should market these!!
I’ll be looking for this now.
p.s. I love that you’ve established your "pretty" bathroom as a place that has great lighting and a great floor to use as a background for pictures.
Cool! I was thinking I needed to make some re-usable lunch bags before school started and here I find your tutorial the very same day. Love the idea of putting batting inside. Thank you.
Bought Marimekko oil cloth this summer – thanks for the inspiraiton!
THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOO GREAT!!! Can I link your blog to mine?
I did a similar one in fused plastic. See here. http://aestheticonion.blogspot.com/2007/08/fused-plastic-lunchbag.html
I’d been looking for a lunchbag pattern! Thanks for posting this one.
I’m not really a sewing kind of gal but my daughter and I have decided to try this project together. I have a question: Is there anything wrong with using oilcloth for the inside too?
Also, they were out of most of their oilcloth at Sew Mama Sew so I dis some searching and found a lot here.
http://www.mendels.com/fabrics_oilcloth.html
Thank you for the tutorial!
there is a cool store in tucson that sells a lot of great patterns in oilcloth (picante) and I have been looking for things to do with it! thanks!!!
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What a great idea. I want to make two now!
I noticed there were quite a few click throughs to my fused plastic lunchbag tutorial. That post is now located here.
http://aestheticonion.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/fused-plastic-lunchbag/
I’ve just come over from How about Orange…after seeing your lunch bag listed there. It’s gorgeous and thank you for the great tutorial!
Not made in China…good idea!
I went to the site sewmamasew and couldn’t find oilcloth. i found some on ebay but the selection isn’t great. Can you direct me on more places to buy oilcloth?
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I’m going to to try one tonight. You did not mention if you needed a special foot to sew on the oil cloth. Where did you get the beautiful green paisley?
I’m going to embroider names on mine too.
Thank you, you have inspired me!
I’ve found lots of oilcloth in many patterns at this site: http://www.ahmercantile.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=10_21_132&osCsid=591422270e117b130e4c771eabb99ca7
They have fabric on sale and are clearing it all out but the oilcloth is not part of the clearance. They will cut the oilcloth to any size you need. Get some friends together and put in a big order–orders of $99.00 get free shipping.
If you are going to sew a lot of oilcloth or vinyl, you should have a teflon foot. I got mine at a local store that sells and services sewing machines. If you are only going to do a couple bags, put masking tape on the bottom of your regular sewing foot . It will work, too.
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This is awesome. I have tons of left over oilcloth from a previous project and this is a great way to use some of it, and save the planet at the same time. Thanks!
good!
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If you are going to sew a lot of oilcloth or vinyl, you should have a teflon foot. I got mine at a local store that sells and services sewing machines. If you are only going to do a couple bags, put masking tape on the bottom of your regular sewing foot . It will work, too.
This is really cool! I’ve been thinking of doing something like this for a while. Thanks for the help!
Thank you for the great tutorial. I linked it at PassiFlora magazine (we had a post about reusable lunch bags) http://passifloramag.com/2009/04/money-saving-and-lunch-bags/
this is so fabulous my sitser made one for herself and now shes making me one caus i love it so much
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A walking foot for your sewing machine is fabulous for slippery materials! I highly recommend them. Lovely bag
Has anyone thought about using a plastic table clothe instead? You know the ones that are plastic on the outside and have the white fabric on the other – sorta like the quilt batting. Any thoughts?
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I love that bag. I think I may try a flower appliqué like yours above, very nice.
That really is a wonderful idea. Although I am not so good at sewing I think I will have a go.
Any thoughts on the safety of oilcloth and the plastic lining you used? I really want to make some of these, but I’m concerned about how safe it is to have my food near the fabric.
I made 3 of these as Christmas presents. You can definitely see the progression in skill from the first to the last ones I made.
Thanks so much! I will be making some awesome Christmas presents with this turtorial. God Bless!
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