Hand-Sewn Plastic Bag Holder

I made one of these already for myself—which I love. When my sister was visiting last summer, I made note to make one for her. So here it is in time for her birthday.

About the Fabric

• quilting cotton from Joann’s
• no stretch
• midweight

About the Pattern

This bag is part of the kitchen set in my One Yard Wonders book, and it’s an incredibly simple sew involving just 2 pieces of fabric and 2 pieces of elastic. Optionally, you can use interfacing to bulk that fabric up.

What I Did Differently

• Used quilting cotton this time. My first version used a heavier home decor fabric.
• Used interfacing on the strap.
• Cut the strap in half before sewing it and added a button/buttonhole, which creates more options for hanging the thing up. (Although, I guess you could always feed the bag through the loop if trying to hang it from something with no opening. Except then it’d be a pain to take down if it were full.)
• The instructions tell you to sew the long side seam first and then fold over the casings. It’s much easier to make memory folds before sewing that seam, which is what I did. While the fabric was flat, I folded over 1/4″ on each end, pressed, then another 1″ on each end and pressed again. Then I unfolded it and sewed the side seam. That made folding over and sewing the casings in the next step SO easy.

Things That May or May Not Have Happened

• I may have had to sew an additional strap because I messed up the buttonhole on the first one.
• I may have broken the first [super cute] button I tried attaching because somehow something slipped and created a rat nest of bobbin thread.

Notes for Next Time

• Don’t be dumb and be sure the button hole runs parallel to the strap and not perpendicular. Otherwise, you’ll get a buttonhole with great potential to run completely off the strap.

Project Settings