Whether it's the first day of school, the middle of the school year or even the office, somehow even the most boring sandwich in the world tastes so much better when it comes out of a beautiful, colourful lunch bag like this one! And best of all, you can sew this handy personalised lunch bag yourself with our free tutorial. Simply follow the steps below. The finished lunch bag measures 31 x 16 cm.
You will need the following for your DIY lunch bag:
- Outer fabric, 75 x 30 cm
- Inner fabric, 75 x 30 cm (you can use oilcloth or another coated fabric to keep the bag clean in case of spillages)
- Interfacing fabric, 75 x 30 cm - we used Vlieseline G700, but you can use a different interfacing fabric
- Velcro fastener, 20 cm
- Matching sewing thread
- Personalised PU iron-on label
Let’s get started!
If your fabric is not the right size, you can cut out two rectangles measuring 38 x 30 cm and sew them together with a 0.75 cm seam allowance. Your lunch bag will have an extra seam at the bottom, but that doesn't matter. Iron the interfacing onto the left side of your outer fabric according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Fold the outer fabric in two, short sides together. Cut out two 5 x 6 cm rectangles at the raw edge, one on the bottom left and the other on the bottom right. Repeat with the inner fabric.
Sew the two parts of the Velcro onto the outer fabric. Place one piece on top of the cut edges and topstitch close to the edge. Repeat with the other part, only at the other end of the fabric. You can temporarily fix the pieces with double-sided tape before sewing them in place if it helps.
Then sew the sides of the outer fabric right sides together, with a seam allowance of 0.75 cm. Next, place the corners together so that the side seams are centred (see picture) and sew them together with a seam allowance of 0.75 cm. Repeat with the inner fabric, but this time leave a turning opening of about 10 cm. Don't forget to lock your stitches before and after the opening!
Now place the outer bag inside the inner bag, right sides together. Clip the opening together at the top and make sure the side seams meet - then sew everything together with a seam allowance of 0.75 cm.
Turn the whole piece through the opening and close it either by hand with a ladder stitch or sew close to the edge with the sewing machine. Finish by topstitching close to the edge.
You can now iron on your Wunderlabel PU label.
Then topstitch the sides to give your bag a nice shape. Fold the sides together (see picture) and make sure that the inner fabric goes all the way to the corner. Clip the whole thing together and topstitch it with a 0.5 cm margin. Finish your seams at the bottom with a few locked stitches. Topstitch the bottom this way too - it's a bit awkward in the corners because the rest of the fabric has to be out of the way, but with a bit of fiddling it works quite well. Now repeat the whole process on the other side of the lunch bag. All that's missing now is a delicious lunch!
<style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style>Don't miss these blog posts from Wunderlabel:
Free Tutorial: DIY Fabric Coasters
Easy Felt Cord Organizers
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