Alright folks, let’s dive into my latest weekend project: the meal preparation bag! I’ve been meaning to get this done for ages, mainly because I’m tired of lugging around a bunch of mismatched containers every day for lunch.
First thing’s first, I gathered my supplies. This included:
- Some heavy-duty fabric I had lying around (it was a dark blue canvas, pretty sturdy).
- Insulated lining – gotta keep that food cold (or hot!).
- A zipper, a good long one.
- Some webbing for the straps, for easy carrying.
- Thread, scissors, pins, the usual sewing kit suspects.
Next up, I measured and cut everything. I basically wanted a rectangular bag, nothing too fancy. I measured my largest container and added a few inches on all sides to give myself some wiggle room. Cut two pieces for the outer fabric, two for the insulated lining, and then cut the webbing for the straps to the length I wanted. Honestly, eyeballing it is half the battle!
Then came the fun part – sewing! I started by attaching the insulated lining to the inside of the outer fabric pieces. Basically, you treat them like one piece from this point on. I pinned them together, wrong sides facing, and sewed around all the edges. It’s a bit bulky with the insulation, so take it slow.
Next, I inserted the zipper. This was probably the trickiest part. I pinned the zipper to the top edges of the two fabric pieces, right sides facing the zipper tape. Then I sewed along the zipper, using a zipper foot (if you have one, it makes life easier). After that, I flipped the fabric right side out and topstitched along the zipper to give it a nice, clean finish. A few choice words may have been uttered during this step.
After the zipper was in, I sewed up the sides and bottom of the bag. I turned the whole thing inside out, making sure the zipper was mostly open. Then I sewed along the side seams and the bottom seam. Remember to leave a little opening at the bottom of the INSULATED lining – but not the outer fabric! You’ll see why in a sec.
Time to turn it right side out! This is where that opening comes in handy. You reach in and pull the whole bag through the hole in the lining. Once it’s all right side out, carefully fold the edges of that opening in and stitch it closed. No one will ever know!
Finally, I added the straps. I pinned the webbing straps to the sides of the bag, making sure they were evenly spaced. Then I sewed them on, reinforcing the stitching several times to make sure they were nice and strong. You don’t want your lunch ending up on the pavement!
And that’s it! I now have a sweet meal preparation bag. It’s not perfect, the stitching is a little wonky in places, and the zipper isn’t perfectly straight but hey, it works! Plus, it’s way better than the plastic grocery bag I was using before.
I’m already thinking about making another one, maybe with some pockets for utensils and snacks. Stay tuned!
