People often ask where creative people get their inspiration. Sometimes it comes from sheer frustration.
I had a typical store-bought laundry bag with a drawstring closure that I would wash every time I did the laundry so that I could put my clean clothes in the clean bag. The washing machines in my apartment complex are poorly designed and have a huge gap under the agitator that allows the machine to "eat" items. One day, the machine ate the plastic toggle on my laundry bag's drawstring and no amount of pulling and wiggling would dislodge it. I had to cut it loose. This is the second drawstring that I've lost to these machines. My anger at the thought of having to make yet another drawstring for this bag sparked my creativity. I had 2 problems to solve: 1) the bag's closure kept being eaten by the machine, and 2) store-bought bags are made out of cheap material that wears out quickly (this one was already showing enough wear that it probably wasn't worth fixing it again). So, I decided to make my own bag out of cotton duck cloth with a snap closure rather than a drawstring.
It's a very simple design. Using my old bag as a guide for size, I cut out a large rectangle, sewed a 2" hem, folded the rectangle in half, and sewed the side and bottom seams (I used a 1/2" seam allowance). Then I sewed the snaps to the hem. The finished size is about 30" x 39". The snaps are size 10 (1") and are metal rather than plastic. I sewed it by hand with cotton hand quilting thread, and in addition to cutting it out with pinking shears, I finished the seams by folding the seam allowances in toward the center and sewing them together so that all of the raw edges are fully enclosed. This thing is very durable and should last me a good long time. Also, the fabric was on sale so I bought enough to make 2 bags. When this bag eventually bites the dust I can salvage the snaps and sew a new bag. I'm never buying one of those cheap bags again.
I had a typical store-bought laundry bag with a drawstring closure that I would wash every time I did the laundry so that I could put my clean clothes in the clean bag. The washing machines in my apartment complex are poorly designed and have a huge gap under the agitator that allows the machine to "eat" items. One day, the machine ate the plastic toggle on my laundry bag's drawstring and no amount of pulling and wiggling would dislodge it. I had to cut it loose. This is the second drawstring that I've lost to these machines. My anger at the thought of having to make yet another drawstring for this bag sparked my creativity. I had 2 problems to solve: 1) the bag's closure kept being eaten by the machine, and 2) store-bought bags are made out of cheap material that wears out quickly (this one was already showing enough wear that it probably wasn't worth fixing it again). So, I decided to make my own bag out of cotton duck cloth with a snap closure rather than a drawstring.
It's a very simple design. Using my old bag as a guide for size, I cut out a large rectangle, sewed a 2" hem, folded the rectangle in half, and sewed the side and bottom seams (I used a 1/2" seam allowance). Then I sewed the snaps to the hem. The finished size is about 30" x 39". The snaps are size 10 (1") and are metal rather than plastic. I sewed it by hand with cotton hand quilting thread, and in addition to cutting it out with pinking shears, I finished the seams by folding the seam allowances in toward the center and sewing them together so that all of the raw edges are fully enclosed. This thing is very durable and should last me a good long time. Also, the fabric was on sale so I bought enough to make 2 bags. When this bag eventually bites the dust I can salvage the snaps and sew a new bag. I'm never buying one of those cheap bags again.
