I’m a bit of a nut when it comes to budgeting, so I bring most of my lunches from home (also there are no good places to eat around Wall Street). Usually this just means I stuff a tupperware in a tote bag or purse, but sometimes I’ll use a good ol’ brown paper bag. However, in trying to be a good steward of the environment (I’m staying away from paper towels and only using sponges!), I decided to make an oilcloth lunch bag.

I had been wanting to try this from a Martha Stewart tutorial; however, on closer inspection, I realized her tutorial was woefully lacking in detail for a novice seamstress like myself. Despite this setback, in a great effort to please, I pressed on and came up with what’s in the photo above.

My oilcloth, (from ikea- a surprisingly good source for fabric!) was a little looser than Martha’s. This meant that my lunch bag doesn’t stand up as well, and serves as more of a lunch sack than a proper bag. No matter- it still holds my lunch, contains spills, is pretty, and easily reusable, and was the product of my own two hands. I didn’t bother with the velcro, although it would be very easy to attach. Even with Martha’s lacking direction, it didn’t take me too terribly long. A good project for a rainy afternoon; you can make a whole slew of these for presents too!

(Ah! i just found this site with the pattern! This would have made my life much easier!)

Cost:
– I’m assuming you have a sewing machine. If you don’t, you can still do this project by hand with a little more time.
– Fabric was $7.50 per yard. You can make approx. 2 of these.
– Total cost: $4.25 cents, plus you’ll have lots of extra scraps of fabric.

Photo credit: my blog, caketime.