With the recent ban on single use plastic bags, it was just the kick up the butt I needed to finally tackle a project that has been on my to-do list for, quite literally, years. I had made a reusable shopping bag previously for my mum, all the way back in 2009, and which she still uses on the regular (which I’m pretty chuffed about!), and ever since, I had planned to make one for myself. But, of course, a whole lot of life has happened since that first bag, and so it kept getting pushed down the to-do list…until a few weeks ago when I decided to finally bite the bullet and get it done.

I’ve been caught a few times since the plastic bag ban, when I pop into the shops on the spur of the moment for “just one thing”, and walk out with the kids holding an item or two each. I’m quite good at remembering my bags for the big weekly shop, but sometimes we’ll be down the street and decide to grab something, and I don’t have a bag on hand. So sewing time it was. I followed the same free bag tutorial I used last time, though I made my pouch a bit bigger, which I am not thrilled with, so I may correct that later on this week. I’m really not sure why I put this off for so long, it was a quick project, only a couple of hours start to finish, including a couple of cups of coffee, chatting with the family, and inspecting the kids cubby house they built in the loungeroom. I also chucked some Netflix on the computer and watched To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, so there were some sewing breaks when I paused to actually watch parts of the movie rather than just listen along. Not a bad way to pass a rainy Sunday afternoon, really.

Following the tutorial, I created my own template using a shopping bag I had on hand – the last one in the house, and I must confess, I did think twice before cutting it up after paying a whole 15c for the darn thing – because we all know I’m a total tightwad paying for craft supplies, right? Now that they are far less readily available, I took the opportunity to create a template for the handle section, which you can access as a free PDF download here, and then customise to whatever length you desire (I added 12.5″ to the baseline of mine). Once you’ve printed the template, the linked tutorial will step you through the process.

This bag now lives in my handbag, and is a rather generous size, so I’m looking forward to a chance to try it out. Like all things, when I didn’t have it, I needed it on the regular, and now I’ve gone and made it…I haven’t needed it since!

(for those who follow me on my craft blog as well, you are not going crazy, you have read this post before! I felt it was also a good fit for this blog, so I took the chance to be a little bit cheeky and cross-post, to buy me an easier day for my blogtober challenge)