Grocery Bag Holder {DIY}

I don't know about you, but I am a sucker for cute storage options.  All of the plastic grocery bags that we save where hanging in a giant wad in the pantry and I could not look at it another second!  My mom has one of these grocery bag holders that a friend got her on a trip to Switzerland (I know, right?!?), and I really wanted one for our house. 

When I remade my old messanger board into a calendar frame, I missed the toile fabric in the kitchen.  I had to find a way to bring it back!  It was perfect for this project.  I'm such a sucker for toile.  And the kids in this print are too cute.

Here's how I made it:

My fabric measured 21" x 18"

Lay your fabric out wrong side up.

On the longest sides of the fabric, measure out 1/4 of an inch and fold the fabric. 

Iron it, then fold it over again (above) and iron it again.

Pin it!

And sew up the sides.  Leave the shorter side for now, you'll take care of them when you sew the holder closed.

Next, you'll need elastic. I got this kind:

With elastic, the smaller the piece you cut, the tighter the closure will be. In order to know how much elastic you will need, you have to stretch it.  I held on end with one hand, stretched it, and where the stretched elastic met the other end, I cut at that point.

Un-stretched, my pieces were 12.5 inches

You'll need two pieces, one for the top and one for the bottom

Fold each piece in half and mark the fold with a marker.  I used a black sharpie, since you won't see the elastic once it is all together.

Pin one end of the elastic to the edge of the wrong side of the fabric.  For mine, I put the elastic 2 inches from the top to create a ruffle.

Fold your fabric in half, matching the ends together, with the wrong side of the fabric facing towards you.  Pin the middle of the elastic (perfectly displayed by the mark you just made) to the fold of the fabric.  Remember to pin the elastic as far down from the top edge that you did on the side in the step above.

Now, pin the other edge of the elastic to the other edge of the fabric.  Keep it the same distance from the top as your other two pins and on the wrong side of the fabric.  Repeat attaching the elastic on the bottom of your fabric.  Once you have attached the elastic, it'll look like this:

Kind of funny, right?!? When you sew it, you'll have to stretch the elastic with the fabric...demonstrated below...

I am pulling with each hand while I am holding the fabric and elastic.  It is a little tricky to start.  Don't try and hold the fabric end to end, do it by small sections.  In the picture above, I was able to control the stretch by holding it at one end and at the midpoint.  I am pulling with both arms in opposite directions to stretch it out, and then slowly feeding it through the machine.  Set your machine to zig zag...it's the strongest stitch to attach the elastic with.

Once you've attached both pieces of elastic, flip it over and admire your work. Ta-da!!

To sew it up together, flip it wrong side out again and fold it in half, right sides together.

Use pins to help you match up the edges together.  Because of the elastic, it is not going to fold perfectly, as you can see above.

Now, sew up the side! I left a good width to ensure that I would get the elastic in the seam.

Once you've done that, trim up the edge!

Flip it right side out, attach a small piece of ribbon, twine, lace...whatever your heart desires...and you are done!

So much cuter!!

Linking up here and here