Shopping Bag Holder Tutorial

You'll need:

1/2 yard of fabric, 24" of elastic and 14" of ribbon

1) Cut your fabric to 18"x20".  The 20" will be the length of the holder and the 18" will be the circumference.

Fold your fabric in half lengthwise and sew a 1/2 in seam along the open long edge to make a long tube.

Next, Fold over your top and bottom edges twice about 1/4" to make the casing for the elastic.  Sew around them close to the inside edge of the fold leaving an opening about 1 1/2 inches wide to slip your elastic through.

Here you can see the top and the bottom hems sewn with the openings going over the seam.

Cut your elastic into 2 pieces, one that is 10" long and the other to 14" long.

Next,  put a safety pin through one end of the 10" elastic piece.  This will be bottom of the bag.  Thread it through one of the casings making sure to hold on to the free end.

Machine stitch them overlapping  to make sure they hold.

Sew the opening in the casing closed.

Repeat for the 14" elastic.  

Next, take the ribbon and cut it to 14" in length

Sew the ribbon to the top of the bag placing the ends on opposite sides.  Stitch once along the stitch line from the hem and then again close to the top for added durability.  Turn right side out and your done!

Here are the before and after pictures of underneath my cabinets in the kitchen.  I love when I can sew to solve a real problem in our lives.  Well, that makes it sound like we couldn't lead fulfilling lives with the bags under the counter like that.  It was just a nuisance, especially since Munchkin decided she likes to pull them out and toss them all over the house.