DIY Reusable Snack Bag Tutorial

To get this blog off to a start I’m posting a tutorial for an item you can sew yourself (beginner or no).

You will need:
2 different styles of fabric, at least 7″x12″ in size each
fusible interfacing, at least 7″x12″
7″ strip of hook & loop tape (velcro)
sturdy paper for pattern
the obvious other things like scissors and thread

Start off by designing a pattern. I wanted my snack bags to have pull tabs at the top so that my daughter could open them herself with ease and I also based the size roughly on a standard ziploc snack bag which is 3.25″x6.5″ but I’m using 3″x6.5″. On top of that size, you must add seam allowance (1/4″ in my case), space for the velcro (I want the actual snack area to be snack-bag-size without velcro taking up that space), space for recessing the velcro, and space for the pull tabs. So the width of my pattern needs to be 7″ [6.5″ + (1/4″ seam allowance x 2)]. The height of my pattern needs to be 5.75″ (3″ + (1/4″ seam allowance x 2) + 3/4″ (width of velcro) + 1/4″ (space to recess the velcro) + 1.25″ (the height of my pull tab). The main rectangle of my pattern is 4.5″Hx7″W and the curved pull tab extends 1.25″ above that. Still with me? If the math is all really confusing you can just cut a rectangle 5.75″x7″ and cut some curves around the top to create a shape like this:

Use your pattern to cut out 2 pieces of interfacing, 2 pieces for the lining and 2 pieces for the outside of the pouch.

Fuse the interfacing to the 2 lining pieces using the instructions that came with the interfacing and sew the velcro in place. I pinned the velcro 1/2″ down from the top of the body section to accomodate for the recessing and the seam allowance and I sewed 3 total lines along each piece of velcro to make sure it stayed in place pretty well. Sew more if you’re worried.

Take one outer piece and one lining piece and pin them with right sides facing. Stitch 1/4″ along the top only (curved side). Repeat this step with the other 2 pieces. Then clip at the curves.

Turn both of these right side out, poking out as much of the pull tab as possible and press. Then turn both of them back inside out and pin so that the right side of the lining pieces face each other and the right side of the outer pieces face. Sew all the way around, leaving a 2 or 3″ opening at the bottom of the lining pieces (which you will use to turn everything right side out. Reinforce the gap with backstitching!! (I should have picked a contrasting thread for this tutorial, sorry.)

Clip the corners! This will help all of the corners look pointier when the pouch is complete. Just be sure you do not cut through the stitching.

Pry the velcro apart through the fabric and push everything out through the opening.

Push all of the corners out as much as possible, press, then sew the opening shut as close to the edge as possible (about 1/16″ seam) with backstitching to reinforce.

See how close my seam is?

This is roughly what your pouch should look like. Turn the lining into the outside of the pouch, press again, and topstitch 1/8″ from the top (optional).