Reusable Shopping Bags

My uncle was throwing out an old camping thingy recently, and I rescued it for the fabric. Since we were also celebrating my uncle's birthday this past Monday, I decided (at least) one of the grocery bags I made should be for him.

Somehow, I still ended up sewing it at 2 am the night before the party. (What is it with me, and getting things done late at night?!?) The first bag was meant to be a prototype, but, since it was about 2 am when I was finishing it, it became the present.

I added a fun bike machine embroidery to the front:


(I like going bike riding with my uncle!)

Of course, the bobbin had to screw up, and make a mess of one of my seams:

Yes, I'm a slow learner... not only am I sewing at 2 am the night before the party, but I'm using a contrasting colour thread. (This time on purpose, even!)

With the long handles, I could use the bag itself as the wrapping and bow:

(Extra environmentally friendly! No packaging! We've definitely got reduce and reuse going on here!)

I love the bag I made for my uncle! Using some more of the fabric, I made another bag for myself last night:

Go figure... this time the bobbin didn't mess up, and all my seams look much better. (Not perfect, but not hideous either.)

The applique is a bit of an experiment... I'm not sure how it's going to look once the edges start to fray. (I love how it looks right now, though!)

And, while I'm on the subject of bags, I repaired one that I gave a friend previously. She's been getting a lot of use out of them, and it shows:


Repaired and reinforced: