C's insulated cloth lunchbox was getting really worn and gross (there are only so many times you can wash those before they have perma-stink) so I made her a new one! I was so happy to find the free pattern on this website, CraftPassion, and I modified the dimensions based on some comments in the post.
Read on to see how I made it!
The finished bag! Made with video game themed woven quilting cotton outer, and waterproof PUL (polyurethane laminate) inner. Finally, another good use for PUL besides all those cloth diapers I made long ago!
My fabric print was (mostly) one-directional (starring Mario, Sonic, Kirby, Zelda, and lots of pixellated friends), and the pattern has you fold the outer fabric to form the bag. So that one side of the print would not be upside-down on the final bag, my first step was to prep the outer piece. I cut it in half, turning one half upside down, and sewed the halves back together. That way, both sides of the bag would show the print right side up!
On the right is the finished PUL inner. That was more straightforward to sew, but I still had to run it through the machine under parchment paper, since the seam was PUL touching PUL: a recipe for sticking and messing up! If you have parchment paper under the presser foot, PUL won't stick!
I bought some insulation batting just for this project. I've never used Insul-Bright, but it was fine to sew with and does work well in the finished bag, keeping food cold all day! I clipped it to the video game fabric and treated it as part of the outer.
The pattern has you fold up the base of the folded-in-half outer just a few inches, then sew up the sides (over that fold). This will make the base of the bag. So you can see, folding up 3" will give you a 6" wide base. You'll see!
Closeup of my little outer sandwich
Ta-da! We've made an actual bag with a flat base!
How cool is that? (The inner, handles, and top drawstring fabric come next.)
Showing off the base. You can see my initial seam to make everything right side up. Also, this base folds flat when the bag is empty!
I didn't photograph the inner, handles, and drawstring top clipped up, but here they are sewn in! I also sewed the casing ("tunnel") for the drawstring to go through.
I bought my first roll of cotton webbing strap material for handles, just for this project, and I LOVE it. I didn't feel like going through the process of cutting out and sewing up quilting cotton for (ultimately flimsy) handles, and the webbing is an amazing, sturdy shortcut!
After all these bags I've made, why haven't I bought webbing before?! Well, I have a roll now . . . so I'll be "on a roll" with handle making. :D
You sew 4 rows around the top to hold everything in place. This is a good idea, so the top and inner don't pull out and flop around.
Here are my humble drawstrings: a spare shoelace cut in half! ;D I tied knots on the cut ends and took a torch to them to melt the plastic so it wouldn't fray.
I threaded the drawstrings through the top casing. I always tend to forget how drawstrings work (ha!) but you have to thread them so each string starts and stops at the same opening, leaving a U shape across the opposite opening. Hope that makes sense!
Next time I would do two things differently with the drawstring: 1) use longer strings; 2) Make the casing bigger. PUL is thick and doesn't cinch all that easily.
On the plus side, once cinched, it's very snug, so the bag isn't really going to open. So you don't necessarily have to tie the strings.
And it's done!
At first I wasn't sure what to make the drawstring top out of, but C. reminded me that it needed to be PUL so the whole inside is waterproof. Smart kid!
The finished bag!
C. has gotten some compliments on her lunch bag, and people are surprised to learn that her mom made it. ;) It was a satisfying sew!
How about you? Would you like to sew your own lunchbox? Or would you order a cool one from Dorybird instead? :)
