Making Good Use: Pillowcase to Shopping Bag How-to

A couple of people asked for a how-to about making a shopping bag from a pillowcase. They're really quick and easy to make, and are ideal for carrying shopping, for taking to the beach or as a knitting / crochet / craft bag, or for just generally putting 'stuff' in.

Measure 18 inches from the bottom of the pillowcase, draw a straight line at this length across the width of the pillowcase and cut across. This gives the body of the bag. Fold over 1 inch on the top edge of this part of the pillowcase and iron flat. Now fold over a further 1 inch and iron this flat too. This gives a neat seam to the top of the bag.

From the remaining top portion of the pillowcase measure an 8-inch wide strip, avoiding any seamed pieces at the very top of the pillowcase. Draw a straight line across and cut out. Cut the 8-inch wide strip on either side of one side seam, open it out and carefully cut away any excess material from the inner pillowcase flap (if there is one.) This strip will become the handles. Fold the 8-inch strip in half lengthwise and iron a crease. Cut along this strip so that you have two 4-inch wide strips.

Decide how long you would like your handles to be, I usually make them 23 - 24 inches long so that they fit on my shoulder but shorter handles to carry the bag in your hand would work well too. Whatever length you decide you want your handles to be, remember to add an extra 3 inches for seaming and attaching the handles to the bag. Try to keep the original pillowcase side seam as the centre of the handles whatever their length. Cut the strips to your required length.

Using an iron, fold each strip in 1 inch at each short end and iron flat. Then fold in 1-inch along each long side and iron that flat too. Fold the two long sides together and iron flat. This should give you handles that are approx. 1.5 inches wide x your chosen length.

Sew down the folded part on each short side of the handles. Then sew along the folded edge length-wise on each handle.

Sew around the top of your bag. If you would like to square off the bottom of the bag, turn the bag inside out and on one side line up the side seam on top of the centre bottom fold line. This will give you a triangular shape. From the peak of the triangle measure down 3 inches and mark a line straight across. Sew across this line twice for added strength. Repeat the process for the other side of the bag. Turn the bag right side out again. (You can easily miss this bit out if you want a simpler bag style.)

Decide where you want to position the handles on your bag. I usually put them about 4 inches in from each side, and pin the handles in place. Check that the handles match up on each side and that they aren't twisted. Attach then end of each handle to the body of the bag by sewing a rectangular shape around the base of each handle. The transformation from pillowcase to shopping bag is complete.

If anyone is interested in any of the bags above, they're all for sale at £4.95 each plus £1.25 P&P in the UK (I'm very happy to post anywhere in the world but the postage would cost a bit more.)