"Does exactly what it says on the tin."

That's Melanie Rimmer's comment about this site. Thanks so much for the mention, Melanie!

If you're coming over here from Melanie's blog, Bean Sprouts, thanks for stopping by. Please take a look around for a few minutes and leave a comment. I'm very open to positive suggestions to make this a better resource for hand-made alternatives to single-use plastic bags.

If you are a crafter, I'd love to know what you think of the format. Is it easy to find patterns in your chosen craft? Have you seen anything you might like to try? Have you tried any of the patterns here? What did you think of it? Can we see your finished project? Do you have a pattern you'd like showcased here? I'd love to help you out with that.

And the macrame thing? I kinda put that in as a joke and because it rhymed with crochet (I am a geek). Yet, there are crafters out there googling high and low for macrame bag patterns! So if you have a nifty macrame shopping tote pattern, BRING IT ON.

If you're not a crafter, did you see anything that might spur you on to picking up a skill or at least switching to reusable bags. Maybe you'd like to be a guest writer on an environmental topic?

New Bags from Interweave Knits

Here are links to two intermediate-level knitting patterns from Knitting Daily:

Hemp Market Bag is knit from 100% hemp on size 10 straight and circular needles.

Vicki Square's Market Bag is knit from flax on size 6 and size 11 needles.

Needles sizes are US.

***

If you have made any of the patterns found via Make-A-Bag, I'd love to see a photo and get your thoughts on the pattern!

New Project - Gusseted Grocery Bag w/stuff sack

The Sew, Mama, Sew blog is featuring 30 days of handmade gift ideas during November. Guess what showed up on Day 5? You guessed it; handmade tote bags.

One of the featured projects is a gusseted grocery bag tutorial from U-Handbag, complete with downloadable PDF for those inclined. This pattern includes instructions for a stuff sack with clip so you don't lose (or forget to take) the bag. This link shows how much stuff she fit in the bag - impressive!

That's another point that is rarely mentioned with reusable bags - less bags to carry. As long as the bag is not too heavy to lift, a lot more can be put in it than in a plastic bag because the plastic bags rip so easily.

I've added U-Handbag's Gusseted Grocery Bag to the sewing links sidebar.

Project Deleted - Muslin Tote Bag

Not sure what happened to this project, but the link was dead, so I removed it from the sewing list.

Project Feature: I'mm meeeeellllltttting...

No, this is not a post about icebergs. heh.

I received a comment linking to the following YouTube video, which I thought was pretty great. The pattern is for a messenger bag, but the video also shows how to fuse plastic grocery bags together to make plastic "fabric", which you could then use to sew a grocery bag.

I haven't tried it yet, but it seems you could also use this fusing technique to patch your old plastic grocery bags that you are reusing until they can be reused no more. Or nest two grocery bags together and fuse them for double strength. Seems like cashiers are always trying to double bags on me anyhow.



A lot of the video's comments asked why he bought a bag in order to get the buckles. Good point, but if you're like me, you have 87,000 bazillion old backpacks and bags with holes, etc., that really aren't usable but you hate to throw away. If not, go on Freecycle and ask for old backpacks with holes. Get the buckles off those and craft away.

Fun With Video

Tesco is a supermarket chain in Great Britain that seems to get about as much love as Wal-Mart does on this side of the pond.

Here's a fun little video, mimicking Tesco's ads, that encourages people to shop locally.



I so admire the British way of getting a point across by using humor.

Produce Bags

For a long time now, I have been bugged by the plastic produce bags at my local grocery store. It's bad enough that MOST of the produce already comes in a plastic bag. Why did I need to grab a separate bag for each type of produce that didn't come in its own bag? If I put all my veggies in one bag, would the cashier get annoyed or think I was trying to sneak something past her? So each time, I still put separate produce in separate bags. 1 head of garlic, 1 bag. 2 lemons, 1 bag. (Yes, I am trying to eat more locally, but sometimes ya gotta have a lemon!)

The the store started using EVEN BIGGER produce bags! Oh, I guess that gallon-size baggie wasn't big enough for the 1 head of garlic; we need a 6-quart size!

So what if I used no bags? Well, some things would get squashed in the cart, grapes would go all over, etc.

Another blogger (who I would link to if I could remember who it was, sorry), puts a hand-held shopping basket in her cart to hold her veggies. An excellent idea, if you remember to grab one (which I haven't), and if you are organized enough to not set the basket on top of other items that could get squashed (which I'm not).

Then, two weeks ago at the farmer's market, I realized that not only was no one selling reusable bags, every single booth was giving out plastic bags to shoppers. Grrr. I had Nettie, but avoiding plastic bags meant that all my veggies mixed up therein. Not a tragedy, certainly, but annoying.

Finally, my brain kicked into gear - why couldn't I make my own produce bags? Made from lightweight cotton or muslin, they would not add (much) weight when buying items sold by the pound. A drawstring close would keep things inside.

So, after WAY too much thought... here are my produce bags:


The first one - "gallon" size. I traced a standard zip-top food storage bag, adding a little extra at the top for the drawstring casing. Before I started, I realized that using a drawstring would make them hold less than intended. (Next task - learn to sew in a zipper!)

Using 30" of 45-inch-wide fabric, I was able to make a set of 2 "gallon" and 3 "quart" size.


Field tested today at the local farmers' maket. Big bags held four smallish bell peppers and 6 lg tomatoes, respectively, with room to spare. Small bags held a pint of smaller tomatoes (not quite cherries) and a quart of green beans. I had one small size bag left over.


Nettie held everything quite well! (Yes that is a to-be-reused plastic shopping bag at the bottom, just in case.)

You could make these with reused lightweight cotton woven fabric such as dress shirts and sheets. Four yards of drawstring trim was not even close to enough, so I improvised by reusing clean old shoelaces. Other drawstring alternatives could be: cotton yarn, ribbon, bias tape, scrap fabric. Just make sure they are washable unless you enjoy rethreading your drawstrings every time you wash the bags (I don't).

Overall, I'm really happy with how the bags worked. Besides not adding to my plastic problem, the cloth allowed the veggies to "breathe" vs. steaming in their own juices when left in the car for a couple hours afterward. (Bad, I know, but I owed the kids a trip to the park.) I will try to get an actual pattern up here soon, but I'd like to make the zipper improvement first. In the meantime, find a basic drawstring bag pattern and give it a try!

Up next - Field Test #2 - the grocery store. Stay tuned.

More Reasons to Avoid Plastic Bags

In case you didn't have enough...

Here's a photo that Beth at Fake Plastic Fish snapped from Spirit Air's in-flight magazine:



You can click to read the text. The most shocking thing to me was the headline: "We use 2 million barrels of oil every day to make plastic." I don't know about you, but that sure sounds like a lot to me.

The article also claims that "72% of Americans don't know that plastic comes from oil." Maybe we can get the people from These Come From Trees to make some "These Come From Oil" stickers.

Reusablebags.com lists "Facts and figures regarding the true cost of plastic bags" in terms of both consumption and environmental impact. Be sure to check the "Other Facts" sidebar - tons more info there, including why paper bags and recycling aren't the answer.

Bean Sprouts recently wrote Ten Things You Didn't Know About Plastic. Did you know that "About 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags are thrown away in Britain annually. That's the same weight as 70,000 cars"? I didn't. And that's just Britain! How many cars' worth of plastic bags do we toss out in the US?

If you want to figure that out, you can start by visiting Worldwatch Institute. "Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. (Only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.)" Lots of plastic bag info at that link. In the interest of hope, I liked this point: "If every shopper took just one less bag each month, this could eliminate the waste of hundreds of millions of bags each year."

Back in March, No Impact Man wrote about the effect plastic bags have on wildlife in Plastic Bags Are the Devil.

And there's always this photo:


That's enough reason for me.

New pattern: Nettie Bag

The post just prior to this one contains the pattern for the Nettie Bag, designed by me. This is the first knitting pattern I have released on the 'net, so please let me know of any glaring errors or anything that is not clear.

The first photo is the first Nettie I made. It is shorter than the pattern by two pattern rows. The strap is WAY too long - I forgot how cotton can stretch! This bag looks better than the second because it was blocked before sewing.

The second photo is the one I have been complaining about on my other blog. Somehow, 6 inches of garter stitch was just too much to bear (insert eyeroll here). Anyway, this one looks a bit wonky in the photo for a couple reasons: it was never blocked, and I wasn't trying a hard to get a good photo, just any photo. But this one has been field tested at my local farmer's market, and received a compliment from the local raw honey producer. Trust me, it looks better when it is full of ripe tomatoes. And it will hold a lot of them.

Project Profile: Nettie Bag

Nettie Bag by Heather Toll

Difficulty:
Easy, Beginner +

Skills needed:
Casting on (any cast-on style is fine)
Garter stitch (all knit stitches)
Yarn over (yo)
Knit two together (k2tog)
Binding off (again, any style)

Finished size:
Approx 15" x 15" unstretched (38 cm x 38 cm)

Materials:
Color A - Lily Sugar 'n Cream, 2.5 oz. ball, solid color
Color B - Lily Sugar 'n Cream, 2 oz. ball, varigated color (ideally, your colors will coordinate!)
Size 8 US (5 mm) straight needles, at least 14" long
Size 15 US (10 mm) straight needles, at least 14" long
(You could also use circular needles, knitting back and forth.)
The usual suspects - scissors, measuring tape, yarn needle

Gauge:
18 stitches = 4 inches (10 cm) in garter stitch on size 8 (5 mm) needles.

Since this is not a garment, gauge is not as critical as it would be for, say, a sweater. As long as you are pretty close, you will still get a bag in approximately the size given above. For this project, the biggest risk you run by not getting gauge is running out of yarn before you finish, so if you tend to knit loosely, I recommend picking up a second ball of your color A yarn.

Pattern Notes:
This bag is knit in one long piece except for the strap, changing needles sizes and yarns as needed within the length.

The strap is pretty dull, but quite portable. You might want to knit it first or separately, taking it with you and knitting a couple rows when you have a minute to spare.


The Bag:

Side 1:
Using color A and the smaller needles, CO 60.

Continue in garter stitch (gs) until piece measures 2 inches long, or about 14 rows not counting the cast on.

K2tog across, 30 st

Change to color B and larger needles, knit 1 row.

Start net pattern stitch:

1. K1, *yo, k2tog* repeat to last st, k1
2. K all
3. K2 *yo, k2tog* rpt to end row
4. K all

Work pattern for 7 repeats

Bottom:
Change back to color A and smaller needles, k1, yo across row = 60 st

Continue in garter stitch for 4 inches, about 28 rows

K2tog across, 30 st

Side 2:
Change to color B and larger needles, knit 1 row (NOTE: Make sure that when you add back in color B, you do it on the same edge as before.)

Start net pattern stitch:

1. K1, *yo, k2tog* repeat to last st, k1
2. K all
3. K2 *yo, k2tog* rpt to end row
4. K all

Work pattern for 7 repeats

Change back to color A and smaller needles, k1, yo across row = 60 st

Continue in garter stitch for 2 inches, about 14 rows

Bind off, leaving a long tail for sewing up the sides.

Sew in ends.

Block if desired.

When dry, sew up sides of bag using mattress stitch.


The Strap:

At top side seam, pick up 9 stitches.

Knit in garter stitch until strap reaches desired length. Remember, cotton stretches!

Bind off strap and sew BO end to other seam edge, OR graft using Kitchener stitch.

Done! Hit the beach! (Or grocery store! Or farmer's market!)


Strap Variations:

1. Knit a longer strap so you can hang the bag diagonally across your body, messenger style.

2. Knit two short straps on each side so it will hang from the grocery store bagging center.

3. Knit two long narrow straps, picking up the stitches on either side of the side seam as for the regular strap, to make the bag easier to get into when it is on your shoulder.

4. Re-use old belts or flexible webbing as straps instead of knitting them.

Nettie with Strap Variation #2:


© 2007 by Heather Toll. Pattern may be freely distributed with copyright information. Bags made using this pattern must not be for resale.