How to make a quick and easy lunch bag, and waterproof it!

Yesterday I showed you how to make a little all–purpose bag using Odif Odicoat Gel Coating.

All-purpose bag covered with Odif Odicoat Gel Coating

Today we’ll use HeatnBond Iron-On Vinyl to make a lunch bag. I used 2 different fabrics for my lunch bag, but you can use whatever you have on hand. This is a great opportunity to use up some scraps from your stash! Let’s get started.

• From the fabric, cut the following pieces.
  2 – 8½” x 13½” for the front and back
  2 – 5½” x 13½” for the sides
  1 – 5½” x 8½” for the bottom
• From the HeatnBond Iron-On Vinyl cut pieces the same sizes as the fabric.
• Press the vinyl to both sides of the fabric following the instructions given for the snack bag on Tuesday or the instructions that come with the vinyl.
• When the vinyl and fabric pieces have cooled down, cut them as follows:
  2 – 8″ x 13″ for the front and back
  2 – 5″ x 13″ for the sides
  1 – 5″ x 8″ for the bottom

Pieces cut for a lunch bag

• Holding the pieces wrong sides together with UNIQUE Quilting Clever Clips, sew the bottom piece along the 8″ sides, using a SCHMETZ Denim Needle size 90/14 and a walking, even feed or Teflon foot on your machine. Sew a ¼” seam. Use a 2.5mm stitch length. Start and stop stitching ¼” from the outside edges of each piece. Backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam.

Start and stop stitching ¼” from the outside edges of each piece.

• Sew across the top edge of each front, back and side piece ¼” from the edge.
• Use UNIQUE Quilting Clever Clips to hold the side pieces to the front, back and bottom sections, wrong sides together.
• Starting at the top edge, sew a side piece to a front piece. When you get to the bottom, stop stitching ¼” from the edge of the fabric and backstitch. Sew the other side together in the same way.
• Sew the bottom piece to the side pieces, starting and stopping ¼” from the edge of the fabric. This will give you nice square corners on the bottom of your bag.

Sew the bottom piece to the side pieces.

You can use the lunch bag just as it is now or you can make a double 1″ fold and then use VELCRO Sew On Soft and Flexible Tape as shown in the photo. This will give you a more secure closure. Tape the Velcro in place so it won’t slide around on the vinyl as you’re stitching.

Tape Velcro in place.

Use the free-arm feature on your machine to sew the Velcro in place.

Stitch Velcro in place.

And here’s the finished lunch bag. HeatnBond Iron-On Vinyl makes this bag sturdy, waterproof and easy to clean.

Finished lunch bag

Join me again tomorrow. I’ll show you how to make the easiest outdoor placemats and coasters ever!

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Making a waterproof all-purpose bag with Odif Odicoat Gel Coating

Go to part 5: How to sew the easiest outdoor placemats and coasters ever [free tutorial]

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