I wanted to enter Mistress Jennie’s contest as soon as I saw it, but I didn’t have any good ideas about what to sew to replace something wasteful or ecologically unsound in our house. We already use cloth shopping bags, beeswax wraps, etc. But then a Pinterest came to the rescue, by offering an article about how much better linen sacks were for keeping bread fresh than plastic bags. That’s certainly a some plastic I’ve been wanting to get rid of, so it was a perfect project.
Linen isn’t something lacking in my stash - fine, heavy, new, vintage, antique, I love all kinds of linen.
So I decided to use this small embroidered tablecloth. A quarter of it looks like it would be about the right size. And although it has a few little stains and tiny holes, that isn’t a problem for a utilitarian item like this.
The wide hand-stitched hem will make a perfect channel for the draw strings, so I stitched four eyelets to feed the cord in and out through.
Turning it into a bag was easy - I just sewed a French seam around the two sides and turned it right side out again. I threaded tapes through the eyelets and it’s done.
I like to make drawstring bags with two loops pulling from opposite directions.
I don’t know yet if I can believe Pinterest’s promises that the linen bag will keep my bread better than plastic, but I know it’ll be less wasteful, and it certainly feels better.
So back to plastic, I’m afraid.
thanks for letting us know