Ready to stop buying Ziploc bags by the hundred? Have a look at these sandwich bag patterns and make one of your own!
There are two huge benefits to making your own reusable sandwich bags:
- You stop making toxic trash every time you take a sandwich to work or school.
- You get a super-cute bag to feast your eyes on!
There are such a wide variety of fabrics available nowadays you’re sure to find something that is an almost perfect reflection of your tastes and preferences—or the tastes of the one you make it for. Elegant, chic and gentile? Racy, exciting and daring? Maybe you want to make a Lego-themed bag for your 2nd grader, or a LOTR themed sandwich holder for your highschooler.
There’s no one-size-fits-all sandwich bag!
Until you get to the pattern. There, one-size-fits-all is king, because any decent pattern can produce your ideal snack bag if coupled with the right fabric choices and a small touch of your creative genius. So what you’re looking for in a tutorial is basic directions, clear images, and maybe a little bit of inspiration.
Four Sandwich Bag Patterns and Tutorials That Will Set Your Cogs Spinning:
One easy-to-follow tutorial is Merriment Designs’ fabric sandwich bags. This sandwich bag pattern is simple and straightforward, but it has some very nice features: for one, a nice large flap that folds over the opening and is kept in place with Velcro. This over-sized flap means you have a little extra space to lay down your sandwich when you’re eating out in public, on less-than-sterilized tables. This sandwich bag pattern also utilizes the super-convenient Velcro Sticky Backs, which mean you can put them together in much less time than one made with more traditional fasteners.
Want another fun pattern that you can get done in the same amount of time it takes to wash the dishes? Try the 15 Minute Reusable Snack Bag from The DIY Mommy. This bag also uses velcro to keep the lapel shut, but it is your standard sew-on Velcro.
Are you so into ecofriendly that it almost hurts to buy that fancy waterproof fabric new? Well, you don’t need to! Casa Crafty has a very innovative way to make a neatly zippered sandwich bag, and here you actually upcycle a cereal bag in the lining of your fabric creation. It’s a marvelously clever idea, and no-one who sees the finished product—a stylish zippered sandwich or snack bread—will ever dream it was made from a throw-away item.
If all the text and snapshots in your standard DIY tutorial is playing tricks with your mind, never fear, there are video options too! Needlepointer’s reusable snack bags tutorial takes just a little more than ten minutes to watch; about the same amount of time as it’ll take you to make the bag. The instructions are clear, and it’s easy to follow along. Best of all, once you’re finished you end up with a super cute snack bag that you can use over and over again.
After you’ve made a few of these sandwich bags, check out the lunch bag patterns in the sewing projects section. You’ll need one of these larger bags to fit your sandwich bags in!