BIG New Cloth Lunch Bag

My hubbie needs an new lunch bag, and I'm just the gal to make him one. I will make it way better than his old one. This one will be big enough for the quantities any full grown, bike commuting guy needs. It will easily fit his stainless steel food container. And it will keep his food warm or cold until his lunch break....
I chose bike fabric in honor of his bike commuting commitment. I bought a fat quarter (love those), and found that it was the perfect size to make him said lunch bag. First I pressed the fat quarter folded in half with the pattern in the direction I wanted with right sides together. Then I trimmed and squared the resulting rectangle. Then I pinned it and sewed up the sides and bottom with an edging seam. I also made a pin-tuck sized seam along the folded side to make a mock seam. The resulting rectangle's finished dimensions while it was still inside out were 17.5" by 10.5".

Next I did the same with the liner fabric and the Insul-Brite. When I seamed the sides and bottom, however, I took a slightly larger seam, say 1-2 mm deeper, to help the bulk of the liner and insulation fabric fit inside the outer layer. Make sure to lay the liner fabric on the inside of the Insul-Bright so that the liner fabric will be on the RS. Sew around the top, through the 2 fabrics, 3/8" from edge to keep it from sliding around.

The next step was to square off the bottom of each rectangle, separately. Working with the liner rectangle first, open it up and refold it with the seams in the middle of the sides, folding the bottom a bit like Kermit the Frog's head.

Using the seams as guides, measure down 2' perpendicularly, and draw a line making a triangle out of the pointed end. (Each length of the line on either side of the seam should be the same. Also, this entire line is about the width of the stainless steal box.) When I did this next to the outer layer, I only measured down 1 7/8" to make it a little roomier than the inner layer, which helped the two layers lay flat against each other.

I checked my measuring by holding the two points together to see if the ends lined up. They did. (Yay!)

I did the same to the outer layer and, once I was sure I had measured and sewn where I had intended, I trimmed off the extra fabric.

Then I turned the outer layer RS out and placed it inside the inner layer, lining up the bottom edges and alternating the side seam so as not to make too big a seam to have to sew through. I pinned the seamed sides and then half-way between them to keep the unlined layer from stretching out of shape as compared to the lined layer, and to make sure my 2 layers fit together evenly. I left the back open for turning and to insert my elastic button loop. I like to use these tiny hair elastics because they come in so many nice colors. Also I have them all over my studio since they are my favorite knitting stitch markers.

I pinched the seamed edge of the elastic together and tacked it into place when I sewed up the opening by hand.

Almost done now, I pressed the edge flat and edge stitched around the top 1/4" from the edge. This also reinforced the elastic loop.

Finally, to give my hubbie the ability to make his lunch bag fit the amount he packed for the day, I sewed, not 1, but 3 buttons, centered down the front (that is to say the opposite side from the side with the loop).

All done! Yay! I think he will like it. I can't wait to give it to him for his birthday next week.

To recap the materials I used:

2 fat quarters

1 fat quarter of Insul-Bright

thread

3 buttons

1 small elastic hair band.

Homemade Mini Kitchen

Now, I am certainly not very handy when it comes to building things with wood, but I actually managed this. In all honesty, I cheated a bit. I started with an old child's headboard I found at a garage sale for $4. The rest of it I hobbled out of scraps of wood my husband had lying about. I basically made a frame grow out of the headboard with 2 X 2's (remember it's just what I had on hand) and then covered it with plywood or shelving scraps. I stuck it all together with screws, some intended for wood, some not. It's not perfect, but cute enough that my girls and I are happy with it.

The knobs are old wooden toy wheels, and the faucet and handles are from their block box. (Which all hail from the thrift store, too.) The little shelf also comes from the block box. The sink is an old metal wash tub, also from a garage sale. For the star-shaped burners, I held a piece of card board up to the star in the headboard and traced the shape to make a stencil. Finally, the curtain gives it that cozy, homey feel, and helps hide the chaos found in so many well-used kitchens. (You may not be able to see that the fabric has teeny mice and yellow cheese wedges all over it, which I found on sale at the lovely Piece by Piece.) And so that's how I managed to give my kidos (and me!) a real wooden play kitchen, even when I just could not afford one at the store or online.

P.S. I also got a little help sawing and sanding from my girls. Not much, but enough for them to say they helped. ;)