A New Lunch Bag

When school started back up in August I saw some cute home-sewn lunch totes all over the web.  Of course I didn’t sew a new one by the start of school (I’m always a day late and a dollar short), but last month I did finally make my oldest daughter a one-of-a-kind lunch bag and I think the wait was worth it!

The front was made with a fabric block of Bea’s original artwork that I ordered through a fundraiser at her school last spring.  Then I log-cabined around the block and stripped the sides and back with scraps from my stash.  I used the quilt-as-you-go method with insulating batting.

Bea picked the purple polka dot fabric for the handles.  I added lightweight interfacing to make them sturdy and stand up on their own.  There’s also a strap on the interior to hold her water bottle upright. 

I had wanted to make Bea a lunch bag for quite a while, but inspiration didn’t strike until I had returned home from the Riley Blake Fabric Fest with a “make-and-take” pack of fabrics that included about a 1/2 yard of the laminated green chevron fabric.  It sat around by my sewing machine for a week until this project popped into my head.

And this adorable flower button was also from Riley Blake.  I added an elastic to the back of the lunch pack and slipping it over the flower button effectively closes up the top of the bag.

Now don’t look too closely at the stitching around the top edge of the bag.  Let’s just say I stayed up really, really late (and I stay up till midnight normally) and still didn’t finish this bag in one night.  Let’s just leave it at I had to rush to finish this thing before biking to school at 8:30 the next morning!

Here’s a pic of all the supplies I used to make the bag.  I used insulating batting around the sides of the bag and really thick Pellon interfacing for the base of the bag.  It stands up very sturdily on it’s own.  The finished size is kind of big—about 9 x 12 inches, but I made it tall because the water bottle is 11 inches high.  After making a slew of fabric baskets, putting together this lunch bag was pretty simple.

Enjoy your day!