One Kid's Trash
I have been saving, washing and storing Capri Sun pouches for several months now. I finally got around to making a bag this week.
I laid out the pieces and decided to make a big bag, 3x4 for each side, and 3 each for the edges and bottom.
I had some trouble with the tension and also with the spacing of the stitches. I decreased the tension and that seemed to fix the problem. I also slowed down and fed the pouches through the machine carefully instead of relying on the feed dogs, because they just didn't grab the foil very well.
Here are the sides all pieced together.
I kept putting off adding handles. I thought I wanted to add fabric or webbing so the handles would be nice and soft. Then we ended up at the library and the oldest boy carried the sack all over the place (with books in it!) without handles. No more putting it off! Grab those extra pouches and zip on some handles.
I sewed four pouches together in a line, folded them in half and stitched the edges. Unfortunately the handles are too wide to carry comfortably. I should have folded the pouches into thirds, but I might be able to get away with folding the top portion of the handles in half again and sewing them half way, just for a better grip.
In the end, it's a perfectly functional bag for large children's books, wet towels or any other odds-and-ends the boys can find. So these few bits to trash have lived to see another day outside the landfill.
After the fact, I found a good tutorial at Michka's Creative Solutions.
Next up, a smaller purse!
I laid out the pieces and decided to make a big bag, 3x4 for each side, and 3 each for the edges and bottom.
I had some trouble with the tension and also with the spacing of the stitches. I decreased the tension and that seemed to fix the problem. I also slowed down and fed the pouches through the machine carefully instead of relying on the feed dogs, because they just didn't grab the foil very well.
Here are the sides all pieced together.
The bag portion assembled.
The bottom corners were a little tricky making three pieces come together. The solution is to stop the stitches before going off the end on the first two sides. I ended up ripping out some seams to attach the bottom correctly, but it worked out in the end.
I kept putting off adding handles. I thought I wanted to add fabric or webbing so the handles would be nice and soft. Then we ended up at the library and the oldest boy carried the sack all over the place (with books in it!) without handles. No more putting it off! Grab those extra pouches and zip on some handles.
I sewed four pouches together in a line, folded them in half and stitched the edges. Unfortunately the handles are too wide to carry comfortably. I should have folded the pouches into thirds, but I might be able to get away with folding the top portion of the handles in half again and sewing them half way, just for a better grip.
In the end, it's a perfectly functional bag for large children's books, wet towels or any other odds-and-ends the boys can find. So these few bits to trash have lived to see another day outside the landfill.
After the fact, I found a good tutorial at Michka's Creative Solutions.
Next up, a smaller purse!
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