Recycle Bag Redo

"New" Recycle Bags

I made a set of Reusable Recycle Bags a while back and

 washed one of them soon after and it shrunk... BADLY!

I put off washing the rest of the bags as long as I could! 

Finally I could wait no longer and washed them all.

Due to the 2" shrinkage, the (once cute) arrows looked horrible.

I removed all the "old" arrows..

...bought some cute fabric from Brown Paper Packages

...and used that to create new arrows.

I love the fabric that says "love a tree", "good earth", etc.

I did add a couple special items to two of the bags.

This little "recycle" tag

and the little birdie perched on top one of the arrows.

I love how they turned out and that I can use them again!

Piano Bag

New Piano Bag

Using the HP Inkjet Transfer Paper, I made a Piano Bag for Hannah. For almost a year she's been using a plain bag and making a personalized bag for her has been on my list for that long as well. I bought this clip art from iStock Photo. I searched Treble Clef and there were so many to pick from! The only problem was, all the ones we wanted were about $8.00 to $14.00 each!! We finally found this one for $2.00, which was something I could live with.

There were free ones on the Internet, but not many that were large enough to give a nice clear, clean image of this size. Here are a couple others that we considered.

• ETC - Fairy Holding a Music Banner
• EDU Pics - Basic Treble Clef

One thing I had to make sure is to mirror image Hannah's name BEFORE printing it onto the Transfer Paper. This way, when you iron your image down, the name is viewed correctly.

Next time I'm going to try using SuperSoft Inkjet Transfer Paper. I heard this is easier to work with and lasts longer. The HP wasn't hard... it's just that with the amount of heat they said to use, it discolored the bag slightly. It does show up in the picture, but thankfully, it's harder to see in "real life". I have read reviews saying SuperSoft lasts a lot longer in the wash than the HP brand. Since I'm not planning to wash this bag, the HP brand will work fine.

Just a note, you can use Transfer Papers for color designs. I just didn't have any color ink for my printer.

Library Bag

Our Bookshelf (at home)

With summer here, we needed a bag for carrying all our books home from our weekly trips to the library. I accidentally spilt hot chocolate all over one of my reusable grocery bags and had to wash it... well, it shrunk (badly!). As you can see it's at least 2 inches shorter than a non-washed bag.

And the cute recycle arrows didn't look too hot either. I decided this was the bag to use for our reading bag.

I removed all the arrows and used HP Transfer Paper to iron a design onto my bag. Next time I'm going to try using SuperSoft Inkjet Transfer Paper. I heard this brand is easier to work. I have read reviews saying SuperSoft lasts longer in the wash than the HP brand. Since I'm not planning to wash this bag (again), the HP brand will work fine.

I searched the Internet for "reading" clip art and found a design that Hannah and I both loved. It's from Karen's Whimsy and only cost .99

I love how it turned out!

There were lots of clip art on the Internet, but not a lot that were big enough to make a crisp, clean 8x10 page. Here's some other artwork that we liked and would work great as a large transfer:

• Karen's Whimsy - More Fairies
• Fith Fath - Girl Reading under a Tree
• WP Clipart - Girl Reading by a Window
• Clipart ETC - Girl Reading at Desk
• Clipart ETC - Girl Reading Large Book
• Elizabeth Dulemba - Reading Fairy

Just a note, you can use Transfer Papers for color designs. I just didn't have any color ink for my printer.

3 Pocket Tote

3 Pocket Tote

I wanted to learn the correct way to bind my quilts, so I took a binding class last Monday night at my local fabric store. We made this 3 Pocket Tote that is basically a 18" quilted square, hand bound on all 4 sides. I loved my class and Hannah loves the purse.

Here's the pattern

Here's one of the 2 side pockets

Here's the middle pocket
Closeup of my binding.

Here's our cute model with purse :)

More Personalized Bags

Max's Church Bag

I made a few more bags to be used as quiet bags for Church. The one above is for my 4 year old nephew Max. The 2 bottom ones are for his friends. Their names were too long to put on the bag, so I decided to stick with their initials. I just love this fabric!

For the C & D I used the font "Shangrila" in 900 pt. For Max's name I used the font "Maiandra GD" in 450 point for the letter "M" and 300 point for the "ax". I used "Heat n Bond lite" and edge stitched to secure the fabric even more.
While I was using the iron to seal the fabric with the "Heat n Bond", I didn't realize how close I was to the nylon webbed handle. As you can see it melted part of the handle. The handle is still strong, but I was so upset by what I had done! I didn't even notice it until after I had melted the 2nd bag's handles too!

I still think the bags turned out cute, even if I'm still upset about the handles :)

Santa Bag

Our Santa Bag

This is a cute Christmas bag that I made about 10 years ago when my boys were little. This is another bag that I received for free from one of my Dad's medical conferences. It works perfectly as a Christmas bag since the top is green. I love the drawstring handles that makes it look like a peddlers sack.

Here is the up close detailing. I put very lightweight batting under the applique and then zig zag stitched around the edges. I didn't think it looked "finished" enough, so I stitched on some of the black outline, so that the design would "pop" more.

Here's one of Santa's boots. I think this might be my favorite detail :)

Here's the inside of the bag. Can you see the faint outline of the medical logo/design that I covered up?

Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

Trick or Treat Bags

I made these bags about 10 years ago when the boys were little. The bags were from one of my Dad's medical conferences that he received for free, so under the cute Halloween picture is a medical logo or slogan :)

I don't remember what fabric company this is from, but I still think it's so cute! Here is the back of each bag.

Here is the up close detailing. I put very lightweight batting under the applique and then zig zag stitched around the edges. I didn't think it looked "finished" enough, so I did a straight stitched on some of the black outline so that the design would "pop" more.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Bag

Finished Bags!

I love what Kira did with her Hungry Caterpillar fabric that I had to make my own bags! I bought the bags at Joanns and the fabric at Quiltique. I used Heat n Bond Ultra Hold so I wouldn't have to sew around the detailed edges.

I'm planning to put "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book in each bag and give them as baby shower gifts. Now I just need to find a Hungry Caterpillar card, to complete the gift!

Quiet Bag (for church)

H is for Hannah

Kira saw the cutest quiet bag idea on Just Trying to Remember's blog. I asked Hannah if she wanted her whole name on the bag or just an "H", & she picked her initial. Then I printed out "H"s in different fonts for Hannah to pick from. She picked D.J. Inkers "Love" Font for the H, which was my 1st choice too. I printed out the H in a 500 font size, and the little heart is from D.J. Inkers "Heart Art" in about a 200 font size. I used Heat n Bond to hold it to the bag (from Joann's), so no sewing! It's really simple, but I love the look of it.

**Updated 10/2008 ** Since I used Heat n Bond lite (instead of "ultrahold") to set the "H" & heart, it did start to come off of the bag. I sewed a straight stich close to the edge of both and it looks great!!

Here's what's inside:

• Pencil pouches (.97 each) from Walmart to hold crayons and paper
• Coloring Book
• Shapes matching game from Finch Family Games
• 3 Ring binder to hold pouches, coloring book and matching game.
• Snacks & water (not pictured)

Reusable (Recycle) Grocery Bags

My favorite bag

My Reusable (Recycle) Grocery Bags are finally done! The original idea came from Elizabeth Kartcher and this post of hers.

Here is my fabric that I bought from Joann's.

These are my bags. I bought them (wholesale) through our work so they were only $2.50 a bag. They are Port and Company brand which you can also purchase at Amazon.com. Bags measures 13w x 15.5h x 7d. I couldn't find any black bags like the ones I was trying to copy, so I bought these instead.

The bags are very sturdy and hold 2 gallons of milk side by side.

I used this pattern and enlarged it by 129%. Then I cut out the arrows in each color of fabric. Make sure the fabric is NOT right sides together. All the fabric must be facing the same way or you will have arrows facing the wrong way (I learned that the hard way). The arrows measure approximately 7" x 3 1/2", so you can get 12 arrows on a 1/4 of a yard of 45" fabric. (I'm still not sure why I bought 2 yards of each color!!)

I placed the arrows on each bag approximately 3" down from the top of the bag, and 2" in on each side. I tried holding the arrows down with pins, but that did work too well, so I used some temporary fabric glue to hold them down. I am sure heat and bond will work just as well.

Here's all the bags ready to be sewn! I stiched about 1/8" to 1/4" around the edges of the arrows. It took me about 10-15 minutes to sew each one (I made 10 bags total).

Here's a couple of my favorite color combinations.

Now I just need to go grocery shopping with them!