Back to School // Perfect Little Lunch Bag Sewing Pattern

Oh my goodness, this summer seems to have flown by.  We've got a couple weeks left and I've been making new lunch bags for both my kids and my etsy shop.  I got a great tip from my friend Roselee of Jane of All Trades that makes sewing the handles much easier.

Instead of sewing the handles to the exterior fabric a few inches down from the top, she lined up the raw edges of the handles (3 inches in from each side) with the top raw edge and then sewed the zipper right on top.

  The result is a much neater looking front and this technique saves a lot of time!  Genius!  Thanks Roselee!

  Last year, I had my kids lunch bags embroidered at a local shop.  This time around I decided to use my Silhouette Portrait and black and white heat transfer vinyl instead.  I really like how it looks and this way and they definitely won't get mixed up with other kids lunch bags.

You can find the instant download of my sewing pattern HERE in my shop.

 Don't want to sew your own?  I've got a couple of lunch bags listed in my shop and I'm also taking a few custom orders.

 

My favorite thing about my lunch bags is the fact that they are totally machine washable.  My kids used theirs for a full school year and I'm sure they got washed a least a dozen times.  The fabric color faded, but other than that, they held up great.  Something about a dirty, smelly, lunch box really grosses me out.  I'm never going back to store bought!

 

Forget the Brown Bag, Lunch in Style

 One of the things I enjoy about blogging is that my blog serves as a personal journal of my creations.  I recently decided it's time for a new lunch tote and was kind of shocked to look back and see that the one I'm using is almost 3 years old!  Back then, I was asked to do a guest post and wanted to make something really functional.  An insulated, zippered, washable, lunch tote fit the bill.

 It was really fun to follow my own tutorial.  Since I have this problem of never wanting to do the same thing twice, I of course changed things up.  I used nylon on the inside instead of PUL and added interfacing to the exterior fabric.

The size is perfect and it stands up nicely.

I'd also been getting quite a few comments on the original post asking for dimensions of the finished bag.  I finally updated the tutorial page and added the dimensions as well as a few clarifications.  If there are any readers out there that have been waiting for that, sorry it took so long!  But if you head over to the original tutorial HERE, you'll find all the updated info.

 I'm really excited to head off to work tomorrow with my new lunch sack.  And, I'm working on a slightly smaller version to send to school with my kids.  Their current lunch bags get so stinky and I'm tired of not being able to throw them in the wash.  

Check back soon!