This DIY lunch bag made from oilcloth is a stylish way to take your lunch and also makes a useful gift for a friend. With some basic sewing skills and a small piece of oilcloth, you can easily make a homemade lunch sack to brighten up your meal.

This easy pattern can also be used to make a doodle bag or the most adorable felt lunch playset for kids. So fun!

oil-cloth-lunch-sacks-10.jpg
DIY Reusable Lunch Bag Made from Oil Cloth

Lunch Time!

A group of friends and I share a tradition of taking our kids’ teacher’s lunch during teacher appreciation week. We tally up the number of lunches we need, notify our teachers and then gather in the morning to assemble the lunches. One friend makes this delicious chicken salad, another brings croissants for the sandwiches, one brings fruit, another makes a wonderful pasta salad, and another friend makes these awesome brownies. We add a water bottle for an easy drink and I take care of the packaging.

Last year I made these paper lunch sacks, but this year I made reusable lunch bags with oilcloth. It only took minutes to make each one and it will be something the teacher can use all year long.

What is oilcloth?

Oilcloth is a tightly woven fabric that is treated on one side (usually with linseed oil) to give it a waterproof finish. The fabric is usually cotton, but can also be linen, and the finish makes it easily wipe-able. You can find it at most fabric stores and is often used to make table cloths.

Here Are the Supplies You Need

  • cardboard to make pattern
  • 2- 15 X 12 inch pieces of oilcloth fabric
  • scissors
  • ruler
  • clothespins or clips
  • thread
  • sewing machine

How to Sew a Cute lunch bag

Step one: Make a pattern out of cardboard measuring 15 x 12. Cut a 2 1/2 inch square out of each bottom corner.

lunch bag pattern drawing
DIY Lunch Bag Pattern

Step Two: Take two pieces of oilcloth right sides together and draw around your template. Cut out. I used small clothespins to hold the pieces together.

TIP: Mini clothespins work great but I have become a huge fan of these plastic sewing clips made for sewing.

two cut pieces of oilcloth right sides together clipped together with clothespins

Step Three: I used pinking shears to cut across the top (very optional- I thought it gave the edge a finished look)

oilcloth and clothespin

Step Four: 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, if you have trouble a piece of tape on the bottom of your presser food can help keep the oilcloth from sticking.

oil cloth sewn on sides and bottom

Step Five: Fold in bottom of bag bringing bottom seam and side seam together

pinch corners of lunch bag to sew

Step Six: Pin bag bottom to bag side with clips

fasten corners with clothespins

Step Seven: Sew across on each side

sew along bottom of lunch bag

Step Eight: Turn bag right side out and fold in top of bag about 1/2″ and then top stitch

turn down top of lunch bag and top stitch

Step Nine: Measure about 2 1/2 inches from middle side seam on all four corners, finger press, clip with clothes pins

top stitch along sides

Step Ten: Top-stitch closely to the corner fold on each of the four sides

topstitch detail

Finished! This really is an easy project to make cute lunch bags for friends to take their lunch to work or pack kids’ lunches. You can add an ice pack to keep your lunch cool, and I recommend hand washing the bag if you have a spill. I would really love to know, do you call it a lunch sack OR a lunch bag–and where are you from? I find it is called both here in the midwest.

If you’re sending this cute lunch sack with a loved one, you’ll want to make sure that you add one of these cool lunch box notes (over 100 designs to choose from). Stay tuned for a reusable snack bag and sandwich bag sewing pattern as we are trying to get away from single use plastic bags at our house and start using more reusable storage bags.

lunch box note laying on food inside an open lunch box

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More Cute Lunch Bag Ideas

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Comments

  1. 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!

  2. I love your ideas. They are SO GREAT!!! I need to go thank my sister inlaw for passing your blog on.

  3. 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!

  4. Okay, you know… clothespins. Never woulda thunk it. I’ve always used binding clips.

    Great tutorial. Bookmarking your site for future reference.

    Hugs,
    Melinda

  5. 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!

  6. P.S. I am so glad to find you via the craftzine site, and I have subscribed to your blog.

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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?

  10. Fantastic! I’ve been wanting to make these for ages! Thanks for the clear instructions for a newbie sewer like me!

  11. I love these! Guess what I’ll be making when I get back from my vacation? 😀

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