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!
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.
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.
Step Three: I used pinking shears to cut across the top (very optional- I thought it gave the edge a finished look)
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.
Step Five: Fold in bottom of bag bringing bottom seam and side seam together
Step Six: Pin bag bottom to bag side with clips
Step Seven: Sew across on each side
Step Eight: Turn bag right side out and fold in top of bag about 1/2″ and then top stitch
Step Nine: Measure about 2 1/2 inches from middle side seam on all four corners, finger press, clip with clothes pins
Step Ten: Top-stitch closely to the corner fold on each of the four sides
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.
My Favorite Sewing Tools
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More Cute Lunch Bag Ideas
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Wow, great tutorial. Thank you. I’ll be making some of those, too!
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.
alright, spill it. where did you find oilcloth around here?!?!?!?!
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.
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!!
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!
Love them! Your kids have some lucky teachers. 🙂
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!
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 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).
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!
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
OK smarty pants- I love yr brain! Now, where did you get the olicloth?