Oilcloth Lunch Bags

I made these oilcloth lunch bags back in 2010! I look at them and still love them. I had made one as an Easter gift for one of the kids teachers, they used to tell me everyday that they saw the teacher carrying it to the staff room.

These make gorgeous gifts and are easy to make.

They are made with Oilcloth. This particular oilcloth I used is Mexican Oilcloth, it is quite thick. I bought it from www.fabrictraders.com.au you can also try www.metooplease.com.au

TIPS FOR SEWING WITH OILCLOTH

With the hundreds of students through my doors and the hundreds of machines I have worked with, I have found that it really depends on the machine you are working with. I use and highly recommend Bernina machines http://www.bernina.com

You may only use one or none of these tips, or many.

Use a teflon foot if you have one.

Use a size 10 needle. Larger needles tend to punch larger holes in the oilcloth.

Use a polyester thread.

Lengthen your stitch to 3.

Adjust the tension if needed.

If the oilcloth is sticking to the machine you can place masking tape on the machine to provide grip.

What You Need

50cm Main Fabric for the front & back

50cm Contrast Fabric for the side panels & base

Sticky Velcro dots

(You will be able to make a few bags with 50cm)

Lets Begin
Cut 2 of Main Fabric (cherries) 19cm wide x 33cm long
Cut 2 of Side Panel (gingham) 12cm wide x 33cm long
Cut 1 of Base (gingham) 12cm wide x 19cm long

Layout a Side Panel with the wrong side facing you.
At the short end of the panel, mark a point at the corners, 1cm from the edges.
These marks indicate where your seam will begin and end.

Join the Base to a Side Panel (joining at the shortest end) and pin. Repeat for the other side. It should look like this pic below….Side Panel, Bottom Panel, Side Panel.

Now stitch with a 1cm seam allowance between the dots you marked.
It is important to be accurate with this step. Be sure to do your backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam.

Pin the Base to the bottom edge of one of your Main Fabric pieces, right sides facing each other.
It should be centred perfectly. Be sure to split your seam allowance as pictured. You now need to stitch with a 1cm seam allowance between seam splits. Again, please be accurate with this.

Open out the seams at the corner by turning your Side Panel to match the edge of your Main Fabric. Your oilcloth should be standing up at this stage. The raw edges should be matching perfectly. Pin and stitch with a 1cm seam allowance. See the following pictures to see what it looks like.

Now pin and stitch the remaining Main Fabric to the Base and Side Panels following the same steps as above.

Inside out, this is what your Lunch Bag should look like.

Turn through to the right side and point out your corners. Please don’t be tempted to use your scissors as you may very well pierce a hole!

So the Lunch Bag can stand up without collapsing and to get rid of the ’roundness’ to the seams, you will need to make a few more stitch lines to the side seams.

Take one edge of the side of the bag and pin. The right sides of the fabric should be facing you now. You only need to stitch about 3-4mm from the edge. Get as close as you can to the bottom corner of the bag, and stitch all the way to the top of the bag.