reusable snack bag tutorial

**The following article was written by guest contributor, Laura Wilson.**

I sold the big yardage on ebay, but I had all these odd shape scraps of PUL, too small for diapers, too big to throw away. I decided to make these simple little snack bags, which make a nice alternative to disposable ziplock bags. Of course, you don’t have to use PUL, and if you’re a non-plastic user, you probably will want to skip it. As long as you don’t put anything hot in the bag, I’m okay with it.

I thought it would be super easy, just like a zipper pouch or something. But it took me an afternoon of reassembling the pieces to figure out an easy way to put them together than didn’t require any complicated turning or handstitching. I finally figured out what I thought must be the simplest method of putting them together, and put together a little tutorial for you. It really is easy, it’s just easier when someone else maps it out for you! Instructions are below, but the pdf has lots of helpful pictures.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF TUTORIAL HERE

Materials
scrap sizes of cotton prints - anything that makes a reasonably sized rectangle)
equal size piece of PUL, oil cloth, or second piece of cotton print
velcro
scissors, thread, pins
sewing machine

Instructions
1. Cut your two different fabric scraps into two equally sized rectangles. You may use a ziplock bag as a reference, or just whatever size your scrap will allow. You will be folding the rectangle in half for the final bag, so keep that in mind when you decide on the size and orientation of the rectangle.
2. Right sides facing, sew one short end of the rectangles together. Repeat this with the opposite end.
3. Now turn the rectangles right side out. It may help to iron the seams flat at this point, or don’t bother.
4. Cut a length of sticky and soft velcro about 1/2” shorter than the seam you just sewed. (My velcro is the exact length in the pictures - I wised up later, so just ignore that!)
First, position the sticky velcro centered just below the seam on the inside of your bag and pin in place. Topstitch the velcro in place along the top edge of the velcro, and again along the bottom edge. Repeat this with the soft side of the velcro on the opposite seam.
5. Fold the rectangle in half, with the inside (the side with the velcro) out. Line up your top seams and pin in place.
6. Stitch down both sides of the rectangle with a 1/4” seam allowance, and neatly trim and threads or rough edges. (In the picture below, I didn’t line up my top seams well, and had to redo this, so ignore that, too!)
7. Turn the bag right side out, closing with the velcro. If you don’t care about raw edges, you could stop here. Or take it one step farther and top stitch down both sides, encasing the raw edges inside this new seam. Ta da! Easy peasy!