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.

Aaron got me a terrific book on stuff to do with old t-shirts, and I decided that our dog Picard needed a new bed.  He’s a greyhound, so he would always like another bed. I retired the Batman, Blackwatch Porter, Blues Brothers, Cthulhu, Geek Squad, and “Danger – May geek out without warning” t-shirts from our wardrobes and incorporated them into his bed.  It has a zipper closure, and is stuffed with pillows from around the house that are too worn to use on the beds but perfect for a dog bed.  This is how Picard also wound up with a memory foam bed in the back of my car. Anyway, this project sewed up in an afternoon.  Used both the serger and the sewing machine.

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