Making a Farm-Friendly Shopping Bag
If you have animals in your life, then you probably have some empty feed bags laying around the place. With some sewing basics and a few essentials, you can make your own, heavy-duty, country-inspired, reusable shopping bag.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Pick out a feed bag and clean it up
You’ll want to remove any feed residue still left in and on the bag.
Step 2: Straighten it out and fold in the sides
You’ll have a rectangular, flat feed bag. This is your fabric, essentially. Now comes the fun parts.
Step 3: Measure, Cut, and Sew
At the bottom seam, draw a straight line across the bag. A yardstick works best.
Then, cut the bottom off along the line you just drew.
Now, you get to decide the size and look of your bag. We suggest using the cover art as your bag cover. Be sure to allow 2-inches on the top and bottom for seams. The one we’re making is 24-inches tall by the total width of the bag.
Leave at least 6 inches on the bottom and 3 inches on the top of the picture for the handles.
Fold the bag inside out and add a ¼-inch seam.
Then do a 1 ¼-inch finished seam.
Step 4: Making and Adding the Handles
Measure out two 3-inch wide handles from your other bag material. Then, fold them. They should be about 1 to 1.5-inches wide.
Now sew those handles over. You will not see the seam, so don’t worry about how it looks. Once you have your two handles, decide how long you want them to be. Remember, your bag handles will loop over. Cut off the excess. Finally, fold the ends once and sew them to finish.
With the bag still inside out, measure out where you want to put your handles. We placed ours 3-inches from either side of the center seam.
We sewed a box around all sides of the handles and sewed an “X” on the inside to make it as strong as possible.
Step 5: Finishing Up
Sew the bottom closed.
Put corners into the bottom of the bag. Do this by lining up the bottom seam and side seam to make a triangle.
Mark and sew the bottom corners to finish it up. You’ll discover right away that making small adjustments to the bottom corners can add variety to your finished product.
Coastal Has Feed Bags
Best of all, they come filled with feed for all the pets and livestock in your life. Pick up all the feed you need, then save the bags for fun, country projects like this one. While you’re at the store, check out the latest fashions for men, women, and kids, as well as workwear for everyone in your household at your Northwest owned and operated Coastal.