How to Make a Canvas Grocery Bag

Using a canvas bag for your groceries is environmentally responsible. Bringing your own reusable bag to the supermarket means fewer plastic bags in your home and in landfills. But you need a large canvas tote bag for groceries because when you shop you buy more than a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. This canvas grocery bag measures 23 inches wide and 15 inches high; that’s a lot of room for food.

Things You'll Need

• 1 1/2 yards canvas
• 90 inches of trim
• Thread
• Pins
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Size 18 needle for sewing machine

Instructions

1. Cut one 15-inch wide by 20-inch long piece of canvas. This will be the bottom of your bag. Cut two 14-inch wide by 26-inch long pieces for the body. Cut two 45-inch pieces of sturdy trim for your handles.

2. Set aside the two pieces for the body. Lay out the piece for the bottom, right side down. At each corner, mark out a 2 ½ inch square. Cut out the squares.

3. 

   Seam each corner by stitching together the two edges of each cut out. This gives you four square corners for your bottom. Set this piece aside.

4. Hem the top of each of the pieces to be used for the body. Make a clean hem by turning the edge and then turning again and stitching across.

5. 

   With the right side of the fabric facing up, lay out one strip of the sturdy trim on the piece. This is going to be your handle. Position each end along the bottom, 9 ½ inches from the side, and pin down. Sew to the piece along the center. At the top of the bag, follow the line of stitching used to hem the edge to stitch across the handle to reinforce it. Repeat for the other piece for the body.

6. 

   To attach the body to the bottom, place right sides together with the raw edge of the body lined up with the top edge of the bottom. Leaving 1 inch for seam allowance, pin the side edge of one piece of the body to the center of a short side of the bottom. Continue to pin until you reach the opposite side. Repeat for the other piece of the body.

7. Start by stitching up the sides of the body pieces, making sure to pinch in the fabric from the bottom where the three pieces meet on each side. Then stitch the bottom to the body, following your pin line.

8. 

   Trim the edges from the seams and clip any hanging threads. Turn your bag inside out. This large bag can be folded down to take up very little space, but will expand nicely when you fill it with your groceries.