My Own Recycled Shopping Bag

Now that my craft room is almost done, and at least usable, i'm able to do things other than of my home projects. One of my first assignments was to make my very own shopping bag that can fit into my purse - like the ones that are getting around everywhere. I just love the idea of squishing a bag into a pouch, and it doesn't weigh a thing - cloth bags are just a bit too heavy and awkward to carry all the time.

I looked at a few models as well as patterns on-line but decided to go with my own design, since i wanted to reuse a broken umbrella. I loved the pattern on the umbrella so much (who can resist polka dots), i kept the umbrella even though it broke a year ago. I knew it would come to good use some day. And, since the material is so similar to the bags for sale, i knew this would be the perfect project. I really liked this pattern, but realized i couldn't really use it on the umbrella material i had. If you would like to make a shopping bag from cloth, it's a great pattern, though!

So, after removing the material from the umbrella itself, it looked like this:
After a bit of sizing, i made a simple pattern of a rectangle with 2 straps (loosely based on the above Burda's template), and then just sewed the pieces together, adding a bottom corner seam. I had just enough for the bag itself, and since the umbrella was made up of a bunch of triangle pieces, i had to be careful how i sewed the bag, in order to not break the original seams. I also didn't have enough for the pouch, so i used lining from an old skirt, and sewed rick rack to it for the closure.

I now have a cute shopping bag that can fit into any of my 'everyday purses,' so i'll never need to use another plastic bag again!