Surgery complete! Transformed it from a men’s XXL to a fitted ladies T with gathered sides.

Picked this up in August and only now got around to altering it.

Nifty trick for the gathered sides — used the discarded hems from another t-shirt project as the casing.  Used my serger for all of the main work.  Did a number of basting tries with the sewing machine before I finally said f*** it and took the plunge.

Need:  A lunchbag for work
Requirements:

• Large enough to accommodate the storage containers we use in our kitchen, which are wide, shallow, and stackable.
• Does not need to maintain temperature.
• Needs to have sturdy handles
• Whimsical design

Issue: After checking local shops and online, I did not find a bag meeting these specifications
Solution: Make the bag myself using materials on hand

Materials
Bubble wrap (a ton of it came with Christmas packages!)
Scrap yarn (odds and ends from the bottom of my yarn basket)
Ribbon (formerly tied around a box of cookies)
Transparent nylon thread

Tools
Iron
Ironing board
Parchment paper
Sewing machine
Scissors

Guidance from: Etsy’s Fusing Plastic Bag tutorial

I fused 4 layers of bubble wrap total and sandwiched it with scrap yarn to make the fabric for my new lunch bag. I used three shades of scrap yarn to give it a “hip” look.  The iron was on the highest setting possible, but because I did not pop the bubble wrap ahead of time it took a lot of time to iron it flat.  Parchment paper kept it from sticking to the iron or the ironing board. I love the cellular look the bubble wrap gave the bag.

The main body of the bag is one large rectangle, and the sides are two smaller rectangles.  I used transparent thread to attach the handles (reinforcing as much as I could) before sewing the sides together. The transparent thread allows the focus to stay on the bag  than the edges.

I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and it has worked out brilliantly.  Just the right size!

Lessons learned

• Pop the bubble wrap ahead of time
• This was really fun and took less time than expected
• I might fuse additional plastic to the base of the bag next time to give it additional stability

Slipper mods! The left pair features a fabric sample from a local shoe company — hooray for iron on adhesive! The Batman patches were originally on the left pair of slippers, but I accidentally bought a size too small for Aaron so I had to buy another pair, move the patches, then cover where the patches were on the original pair because my brother-in-law just happened to
a) be in town
b) need a pair of slippers
– and –
c) wear that size