Charlie Bags for the whole class!

My daughter goes to a fantastic preschool. And they are making an effort to be more "green". They have gone away from disposable plates and cutlery and such to re-usable, you know the "easy" things to do. Every Monday we bring in a sheet for her nap mat, a blankie and a sleep buddie. And at the end of the week all these items get put in a plastic bag and sent home to be washed. One day I asked the teachers, "Does it have to go in a plastic bag"? They said no, that is just what they have. So once again me being me I offered to make bags for the whole class.

I did not buy any new materials for this project. I used some denim I had in my stash and 2 King size sheets. We got the sheets as wedding gifts 6 years ago and never used them. We just don't like top sheets they end up all tangled at the foot of the bed. So when I was cleaning out the linen closet a few weeks ago I had put these sheets in the scrap pile in my sewing room.

Since the fabric was fairly thin I was able to just pile it up and cut out the bags with my rotary cutter. Also I used pattern weights rather than pinning to minimize distortion when cutting. And I am lazy and weights are easier. The pattern is available free online at: http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/charlie-reusable-grocery-bag--2  You have to be a member to download patterns so you may have to join if you are not yet a member.

Then I just serged them. Easy Peasy! A while ago I posted my Burda Style Next Sewing Star! audition video which is a tutorial on the Charlie Bag. But I think you could benefit from seeing the unedited version.

As you can see I had to do a LOT of cutting to get the video down to the 3 minutes that they wanted for the audition. This version explains more and might help you do a better job making the bag.

In all I made 16 Charlie bags for the class. And I am just not interested in finding something more to do with the little scraps it generated. There is being thrifty and recycling but going beyond that is beyond me.

They are not fancy and are really just designed to be useful. I took them into class today and the teachers were thrilled. They are hoping that the kids will be able to pack these bags up themselves. Which was not the case with the plastic bags.

I have big plans for all the sewing I want to get done this week. So I better get off the computer and on to the sewing table!

Peace Out - C