A group of friends and I share a tradition of taking our kids' teachers lunch during teacher appreciation week. We tally up the amount of lunches we need, notify our teachers and then gather in the morning to assemble the lunches. One friend makes delicious chicken salad, another brings croissants for the sandwiches, one brings fruit, another makes wonderful pasta salad and another awesome brownies. I take care of the packaging. Last year I made these sacks. This year I made oilcloth lunch sacks.
I first made a pattern out of cardboard measuring 15 x 12. Cut a 2 1/2 inch square out of each bottom corner.
Take two pieces of oilcloth right sides together and draw around your template. Cut out. I used small clothes pins to hold the pieces together.
I used pinking shears to cut across the top (very optional- I thought it gave the edge a finished look)
Sew down each side and across the bottom. I used a stitch length of 5 and 1/4 inch seams on the entire bag. My machine handled the oilcloth beautifully, but If you have any troubles, Sew Mama Sew has a wonderful article on sewing with oilcloth.
Fold in bottom of bag bringing bottom seam and side seam together
Pin bag bottom to bag side with clips
Sew across on each side
Turn bag right side out and fold in top of bag about 1/2" and then top stitch
Measure about 2 1/2 inches from middle side seam on all four corners, finger press, clip with clothes pins
Top-stitch closely to the corner fold on each of the four sides
Finished!
Thanks for stopping by today!
OK smarty pants- I love yr brain! Now, where did you get the olicloth?
Oh, I so, so, so, so needed this! I tried to do something just like this (to hold diapers and a tiny wipe case in my purse and totally botched it. You’ve given me the courage to try again, maybe with the matching oilcloth changing pad!
Amy–our local upholstery fabric store (Denver fabrics (.com)) sells it, maybe you have something similar?
librarycollective.blogspot.com
Hey; those lunch sacks look adorable! That is exactly what I was planning on doing with my oil cloth that I got in Canton, but didn’t have a pattern yet. Thanks for the tip!
I got it from a vendor there named Sunshine fabrics. In canton it sold for $8/yard.
http://mysunshinefabrics.com/
I also found this site that looked promising:
http://www.mendels.com/fabrics10.shtml
Hope that helps!
I feel terrible. I didn’t know there was any such thing as teacher appreciation week!** I think there should be a handout given to all preschool mommies clearly stating all gift giving holidays!!
So, keeping that in mind… Do you have any excellent ideas for end of school gifts for the two preschool teachers? I must redeem myself.
(**I didn’t see any other smarty-pants mommies delivering appreciation gifts, so I was not alone.. but still. I feel terrible).
You rock, as always, my dear! Beautiful oilcloth, and such stylish bags. I so wish you were my neighbor. Oh, the fun we would have.
I loved the tutorial… I can think of so many ways your little bags could bless others. It makes me want to go out and get some oil cloth
Thank you so much for your efforts and sharing all your hard work.
I just love your cute ideas and wonderful tutorials – you always make me want to CREATE and give gifts!
Thank you so much for that!
Love them! Your kids have some lucky teachers.
Thank you so much for the instructions on the bag. Where did you get your oilcloth?
I was up making monogrammed keychains for all of my kids teachers. I am glad this falls once a year!
I wonder if you could use cotton DIY PUL for these. I have some extra from diaper making, I guess I should go try it!
Very cute, and a great idea!!
Those look great, Cindy. And thanks for your list of ideas. From me, and our teachers!
Those are great, I’ll bet all the teachers hope to get your children in their classes.
alright, spill it. where did you find oilcloth around here?!?!?!?!
What a great idea! I love that you take Teacher Appreciation Week so seriously. I look forward to doing the same when my own children are in school.
Wow, great tutorial. Thank you. I’ll be making some of those, too!
I cannot wait to make those sacks – they are so cute!!!
hey ! you were tagged by Craftzine’s daily blog of cool stuff!!! Awesome!
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/05/how_to_oilcloth_lunch_bag.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954
I love these! Guess what I’ll be making when I get back from my vacation?
Fantastic! I’ve been wanting to make these for ages! Thanks for the clear instructions for a newbie sewer like me!
I hate to be a spoil sport….these are so lovely. But isn’t oilcloth based on a vinyl of some kind or other? And doesn’t vinyl stink….and make the food taste sad or bad?
Great! I made a lunch bag (with fabric treated with iron-on plasticy stuff) but your pattern looks like an improvement from what I did. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the great photos and all! It’s always the simple things that give me the most trouble, because I dive in with no plan and no idea what I’m doing. This is a GREAT plan.
P.S. I am so glad to find you via the craftzine site, and I have subscribed to your blog.
I found you via whip up and wanted to give kudos for a great tutorial! Cloth lunch sacks are so handy and I love that you can fit the fabric to a personality. I’m bookmarking your tutorial for future use!
Great tutorial!
Hart’s Fabric has a good selection of oil cloths too:
http://www.hartsfabric.com/oilclothvinyl.html
Does oil cloth sew like billboard vinyl?
[...] ♥ Go green with this step by step tutorial, learn how to make your very own Oilcloth Lunch Sack. [...]
Okay, you know… clothespins. Never woulda thunk it. I’ve always used binding clips.
Great tutorial. Bookmarking your site for future reference.
Hugs,
Melinda
[...] I bought some iron on vinyl and put it on the front and back of the fabric, then I used this pattern. It turned out much better than I had expected, but we’ll see if he actually uses [...]
P. A. Manders Says:
May 13, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I hate to be a spoil sport….these are so lovely. But isn’t oilcloth based on a vinyl of some kind or other? And doesn’t vinyl stink….and make the food taste sad or bad?
——————————-
P.A., I’ve used oilcloth for tablecloths, and nope, it doesn’t stink at all or make anything taste bad. It’s made with PVC, and seems to be fine for food use. It’s also tough and stain-proof. I love it!
I love your ideas. They are SO GREAT!!! I need to go thank my sister inlaw for passing your blog on.
[...] Skip to my Lou had a fantastic tutorial on making resuable lunch sacks too. I tried the pattern out of the plastic table cloth I had used for the lunch wrapper and it was so easy. Brilliant I feel for popping in your drink bottle so it doesn’t leak all over your bag, or just a nifty way to package up a gift let alone your sandwich. Might I add I have no photo of said lunch sack as my Mum saw it and snaffled it and I haven’t seen it since. You will just have to take my word on how good it was/is. [...]
Walmart carries a form of oil cloth. The stuff you can make picnic table cloths out of. We just make them out of cotton. They can be lined with insulating material(quilt batting or the stuff you line oven mitts or pot holders with) and then lined again with a contrasting fabric.(you wind up with 3 layers. ) Also you can put an outside pouch on them for napkins and cutlery and velcro closures. I love them! Our schools are very “green” conscious and we just use one layer of cotton material so that they fold flat after use as not to take up too much room in the back pack or locker. A very cold juice or canned drink will keep the lunch cool enough to be safe. Great tutorial!
Love it! I’ve been looking for a tutorial for this. I’m about to start school again (college) and I have back-to-back classes all day! Which means I have to bring lunch. I’m so excited to get started on this fun project!
carlygarza.etsy.com
[...] Oil Cloth Bags [...]
Wow! Awesome idea it looks stylish very creative nice work…
Cool very colorful thank you for the tutorial
[...] Blog Skip To My Lou tem um tutorial perfeito, com fotos sobre como fazer esses saquinhos muito práticos e [...]
Thanks so much. I am hoping to make a lunch bag for my sister to use for work. I know she will love it.
Thank you Thank you Thank you………
I was looking for oilcloth for baby bibs as I keep children in my home and found a wonderful sight with tons of oilcloth at really great prices. I don’t have any affiliation with this store, just found it this morning through searching for ‘oilcloth’.
jackscountrystore.com
Thanks for sharing your instructions. Great idea!!!!
[...] your teacher take their lunch to school in style with this simple oil cloth lunch sack —filled with a gift certificate to a local sandwich shop would make it extra [...]
You are too clever! I am impressed at how something that looks like it took tons time and effort can be done with a few straight seams! Kudos to you!! I have to try it!
[...] While browsing Etsy one day, I came across oil cloth lunch bags for the first time. They looked fairly easy to construct, fun to make, and a cute alternative to my plastic grocery lunch bags. A quick google search for a template led me to this site. [...]
[...] Art T-Shirt, A Bit of This and a Bit of That Pencil Roll & Art Bag, Red Current for Whip Up Lunch Bag, Skip to my Lou Felt Doughnuts, Skip to my Lou Matryoshka Doll Tooth Fairy Pillow, Goody-Goody Bean [...]
[...] Art T-Shirt, A Bit of This and a Bit of That Pencil Roll & Art Bag, Red Current for Whip Up Lunch Bag, Skip to my Lou Felt Doughnuts, Skip to my Lou Matryoshka Doll Tooth Fairy Pillow, Goody-Goody Bean [...]
[...] Art T-Shirt, A Bit of This and a Bit of That Pencil Roll & Art Bag, Red Current for Whip Up Lunch Bag, Skip to my Lou Felt Doughnuts, Skip to my Lou Matryoshka Doll Tooth Fairy Pillow, Goody-Goody Bean [...]
[...] other ideas, please share. I found the instructions & pattern for these little bags over at Skip to My Lou. I haven’t decide who I’m going to share these with, but I am definitely keeping one [...]
[...] Art T-Shirt, A Bit of This and a Bit of ThatPencil Roll & Art Bag, Red Current for Whip UpLunch Bag, Skip to my LouFelt Doughnuts, Skip to my LouMatryoshka Doll Tooth Fairy Pillow, Goody-GoodyBean [...]
Darling! I wonder if a person could use regular fabric with iron-on interfacing to strengthen it, then make carry bags? The possibilities are endless.