How we managed to accumulate so many reusable shopping bags I'm not sure, but currently I've got quite the heap of them. As an experiment, I thought I would try re-using one of the bags as a source of fabric for a sewing project. I grabbed a Walmart bag, cut it apart and went to work.
Ultimately, the project was a bust. But, as I was cleaning up, I found myself looking at a scrap of fabric. It seemed just the right dimensions to turn into a big 'ol pocket. I added a belt loop, sewed it together, and voila! I had a crude possibles bag:
The dimensions are roughly 5" wide, 9" deep. My first thought was that it would be an ideal trail snack bag. As far as I'm concerned, you can never have quick enough access to M&M's. I didn't really think this through, so the bag had no way to close it. Given how deep it is, however, I'm not convinced this matters.
After experimenting with uses for the bag, I decided to make a version with a closure. Velcro would have been the obvious choice. However, I'm not a huge fan of how loud Velcro can be, and besides, I didn't have any on hand. What I did have was a bunch of magnets. So today, I made version 2.0 of my Possibles Bag, with magnets sewed in place to keep the bag closed.
The magnets seem to be doing the job well, though time will tell if they're clever or annoying.
As for using reusable bags as a source for fabric, this is already known to work. My little project only further adds to the evidence. The Walmart bag material is incredibly lightweight and seems durable (the no-closure bag weighs less than ½ an ounce!). The original bag was heat sealed, rather than sewn. So perhaps sewing this fabric was a bad idea, but still, it seems to be holding. I've got some really heavy duty Trader Joe's bags that I think I may experiment with in the future.
Here's one more action shot of the project:
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