Guiness P.V.C. Apron to Lunch Bag

I seem to remember an apron something like this at my home growing up. Except I think it had an elephant on the front in stead of a Guinness harp. No mind. I found this at the Vancouver General Hospital Thrift store and thought it would be a great base for crafting.

This fabric is good for anything that might get wet, or think about getting wet. The PVC (polyvinyl coating) makes the fabric readily cleanable and water-proof (or at least water resistant).

To make this lunch bag I cut the apron into a rectangle piece, sewed up the sides, squared off the corners and used the apron ties for handles. I ended up sewing the side seems on an angle to make the top smaller than the bottom with aims to preserve as much of the image without making the bag so big contents would fall out. I also added a couple of pieces of self-adherant velcro (heated over the stove to make the glue extra sticky--- a trick I learned at work) as well.

Tea Towel Shopping Bag

My sister once sent me a link to a blog that is devoted to things to make with tea towels. Those old kind of tea towels that our grandparents in the 60's brought back from all their travels. Maybe that was before cameras, because the towels have cliche images of animals and site-seeing destinations on them, a practical reminder of where your friends went on vacation and you didn't. Actually, my mom brought me back a tea towel from a recent trip to New Zealand so the fad must continue, a little less in vogue now, fun all the same.

This specific tea towel comes from the relics of a museum-like home of my friend's grandmother. The house had an elevator, and could itself have been a divine feature for my other blog.

As for the making of though... started with my trusty iron on the hottest heat I could get, because apparently that is the only thing that will tame linen. I then folded the towel in half inside-out and zipped up the sides. Next I folded the corners and sewed them (taking note that both sides were even.

Back to the iron I folded from the bottom of the corners to the top of the bag and ironed all edges to make it into a box-like shape. I sewed a seem on the outside of each of these folds to help the bag maintain its shape.

Finally I sewed a couple of handles on. Ta-da--- a beautiful 100% linen shopping bag to keep me busy on a quiet January Saturday night!