A group of friends and I share a tradition of taking our kids’ teachers lunch during teacher appreciation week. We tally up the amount of lunches we need, notify our teachers and then gather in the morning to assemble the lunches. One friend makes delicious chicken salad, another brings croissants for the sandwiches, one brings fruit, another makes wonderful pasta salad and another awesome brownies. I take care of the packaging. Last year I made these sacks. This year I made oilcloth lunch sacks.
I first made a pattern out of cardboard measuring 15 x 12. Cut a 2 1/2 inch square out of each bottom corner.
Take two pieces of oilcloth right sides together and draw around your template. Cut out. I used small clothes pins to hold the pieces together.
I used pinking shears to cut across the top (very optional- I thought it gave the edge a finished look)
Sew down each side and across the bottom. I used a stitch length of 5 and 1/4 inch seams on the entire bag. My machine handled the oilcloth beautifully, but If you have any troubles, Sew Mama Sew has a wonderful article on sewing with oilcloth.
Fold in bottom of bag bringing bottom seam and side seam together
Pin bag bottom to bag side with clips
Sew across on each side
Turn bag right side out and fold in top of bag about 1/2″ and then top stitch
Measure about 2 1/2 inches from middle side seam on all four corners, finger press, clip with clothes pins
Top-stitch closely to the corner fold on each of the four sides
Finished!
Tags: Add new tag, How to make an oilcloth lunch bag, Lunch bag pattern, Lunch sack pattern, oil cloth, Oil Cloth lunch bag tutorial, Oil Cloth lunch sack tutorial, oilcloth, Oilcloth lunch bag tutorial, Oilcloth lunch sack tutorial, sewing
Skip To My Lou 
May 8, 2008 at 8:20 pm |
OK smarty pants- I love yr brain! Now, where did you get the olicloth?
May 8, 2008 at 9:00 pm |
Oh, I so, so, so, so needed this! I tried to do something just like this (to hold diapers and a tiny wipe case in my purse and totally botched it. You’ve given me the courage to try again, maybe with the matching oilcloth changing pad!
Amy–our local upholstery fabric store (Denver fabrics (.com)) sells it, maybe you have something similar?
librarycollective.blogspot.com
May 8, 2008 at 9:30 pm |
Hey; those lunch sacks look adorable! That is exactly what I was planning on doing with my oil cloth that I got in Canton, but didn’t have a pattern yet. Thanks for the tip!
I got it from a vendor there named Sunshine fabrics. In canton it sold for $8/yard.
http://mysunshinefabrics.com/
I also found this site that looked promising:
http://www.mendels.com/fabrics10.shtml
Hope that helps!
May 8, 2008 at 9:38 pm |
I feel terrible. I didn’t know there was any such thing as teacher appreciation week!** I think there should be a handout given to all preschool mommies clearly stating all gift giving holidays!!
So, keeping that in mind… Do you have any excellent ideas for end of school gifts for the two preschool teachers? I must redeem myself.
(**I didn’t see any other smarty-pants mommies delivering appreciation gifts, so I was not alone.. but still. I feel terrible).
May 8, 2008 at 9:54 pm |
You rock, as always, my dear! Beautiful oilcloth, and such stylish bags. I so wish you were my neighbor. Oh, the fun we would have.
May 9, 2008 at 1:49 am |
I loved the tutorial… I can think of so many ways your little bags could bless others. It makes me want to go out and get some oil cloth 🙂 Thank you so much for your efforts and sharing all your hard work.
May 9, 2008 at 3:16 am |
I just love your cute ideas and wonderful tutorials – you always make me want to CREATE and give gifts!
Thank you so much for that!
May 9, 2008 at 5:44 am |
Love them! Your kids have some lucky teachers. 🙂
May 9, 2008 at 6:50 am |
Thank you so much for the instructions on the bag. Where did you get your oilcloth?
I was up making monogrammed keychains for all of my kids teachers. I am glad this falls once a year!
May 9, 2008 at 7:12 am |
I wonder if you could use cotton DIY PUL for these. I have some extra from diaper making, I guess I should go try it!
Very cute, and a great idea!!
May 9, 2008 at 9:44 am |
Those look great, Cindy. And thanks for your list of ideas. From me, and our teachers!
May 9, 2008 at 10:44 am |
Those are great, I’ll bet all the teachers hope to get your children in their classes.
May 9, 2008 at 6:20 pm |
alright, spill it. where did you find oilcloth around here?!?!?!?!
May 10, 2008 at 3:57 pm |
What a great idea! I love that you take Teacher Appreciation Week so seriously. I look forward to doing the same when my own children are in school.
May 10, 2008 at 7:01 pm |
Wow, great tutorial. Thank you. I’ll be making some of those, too!
May 11, 2008 at 9:55 am |
I cannot wait to make those sacks – they are so cute!!!
May 12, 2008 at 6:08 pm |
hey ! you were tagged by Craftzine’s daily blog of cool stuff!!! Awesome!
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/05/how_to_oilcloth_lunch_bag.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954
May 12, 2008 at 9:51 pm |
I love these! Guess what I’ll be making when I get back from my vacation? 😀
May 13, 2008 at 4:35 am |
Fantastic! I’ve been wanting to make these for ages! Thanks for the clear instructions for a newbie sewer like me!
May 13, 2008 at 12:40 pm |
I hate to be a spoil sport….these are so lovely. But isn’t oilcloth based on a vinyl of some kind or other? And doesn’t vinyl stink….and make the food taste sad or bad?
May 13, 2008 at 3:46 pm |
Great! I made a lunch bag (with fabric treated with iron-on plasticy stuff) but your pattern looks like an improvement from what I did. Thanks for sharing!
May 13, 2008 at 10:14 pm |
Thanks for the great photos and all! It’s always the simple things that give me the most trouble, because I dive in with no plan and no idea what I’m doing. This is a GREAT plan.
May 13, 2008 at 10:17 pm |
P.S. I am so glad to find you via the craftzine site, and I have subscribed to your blog.
May 14, 2008 at 11:55 am |
I found you via whip up and wanted to give kudos for a great tutorial! Cloth lunch sacks are so handy and I love that you can fit the fabric to a personality. I’m bookmarking your tutorial for future use!
May 14, 2008 at 6:35 pm |
Great tutorial!
Hart’s Fabric has a good selection of oil cloths too:
http://www.hartsfabric.com/oilclothvinyl.html
May 15, 2008 at 11:00 am |
Does oil cloth sew like billboard vinyl?
May 16, 2008 at 8:54 am |
[…] ♥ Go green with this step by step tutorial, learn how to make your very own Oilcloth Lunch Sack. […]
May 16, 2008 at 9:13 am |
Okay, you know… clothespins. Never woulda thunk it. I’ve always used binding clips.
Great tutorial. Bookmarking your site for future reference.
Hugs,
Melinda
May 16, 2008 at 11:51 am |
[…] I bought some iron on vinyl and put it on the front and back of the fabric, then I used this pattern. It turned out much better than I had expected, but we’ll see if he actually uses […]
May 16, 2008 at 3:58 pm |
P. A. Manders Says:
May 13, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I hate to be a spoil sport….these are so lovely. But isn’t oilcloth based on a vinyl of some kind or other? And doesn’t vinyl stink….and make the food taste sad or bad?
——————————-
P.A., I’ve used oilcloth for tablecloths, and nope, it doesn’t stink at all or make anything taste bad. It’s made with PVC, and seems to be fine for food use. It’s also tough and stain-proof. I love it!
May 21, 2008 at 1:36 pm |
I love your ideas. They are SO GREAT!!! I need to go thank my sister inlaw for passing your blog on.
May 23, 2008 at 9:01 am |
[…] Skip to my Lou had a fantastic tutorial on making resuable lunch sacks too. I tried the pattern out of the plastic table cloth I had used for the lunch wrapper and it was so easy. Brilliant I feel for popping in your drink bottle so it doesn’t leak all over your bag, or just a nifty way to package up a gift let alone your sandwich. Might I add I have no photo of said lunch sack as my Mum saw it and snaffled it and I haven’t seen it since. You will just have to take my word on how good it was/is. […]
October 29, 2009 at 5:58 pm |
[…] What: Lunch Bags Sewing Tutorial […]
February 22, 2010 at 9:11 pm |
[…] What: Lunch Bags Sewing Tutorial […]
August 30, 2010 at 2:20 pm |
[…] ich heute Morgen einen Mangel an Brotdosen festgestellt habe, bin ich auf das hier gestoßen und musste es natürlich SOFORT ausprobieren. Nach der Arbeit schnell in den […]
May 8, 2011 at 8:08 pm |
[…] bag I was sending with him to school. I originally found the idea from Martha Stewart, but I like this tutorial even […]
May 13, 2011 at 8:10 am |
Love it! Won’t use this fabric as it can cause cancer but will try another more friendly fabric. THanks for the idea.
Jessie
May 13, 2011 at 8:11 am |
Just a small hello so I can subscrive to this site by email. =)
August 4, 2011 at 5:11 am |
[…] Some more cute oilcloth ones here […]
February 8, 2012 at 2:16 pm |
siding Milwaukee…
[…]Lunch time! « Skip To My Lou[…]…
May 29, 2012 at 12:52 pm |
Thank you so much for the tutorial! My sewing machine (99k hand crank) handle the oilcloth also beautifully. I did exactly like you said, except that I use nylon tread. It looks really good!
August 24, 2012 at 11:08 pm |
[…] Some more cute oilcloth ones here […]
August 29, 2012 at 8:51 am |
[…] be a good idea to try your hand at making one or two of these resuable oil cloth lunch bags by Skip to My Lou. They can easily be washed off and you can make them from worn out outdoor table cloths you may […]
September 4, 2012 at 10:00 am |
[…] can really make a lot of green changes just by changing your lunch supplies. Making reusable oilcloth lunchbags, sandwich bags and snack bags will save you tons of money on expensive one-time use bags. They’re also very eco-friendly! […]
September 25, 2012 at 5:33 am |
[…] challenge to create something the right size to take my little tupperware containers in. I found an awesome Tutorial for these lunch bags which gave me a good idea where to […]
July 10, 2015 at 5:45 pm |
[…] Lunch time! | Skip To My Lou *the best oil cloth sack tute EVA > skiptomylou.wordpress.com […]
July 23, 2016 at 11:18 am |
great tute!!! Better than any I have seen. Clear, concise…thank you!
October 21, 2020 at 6:35 am |
Fantastic walkthrough! I love how you’ve broken everything down step by step. I need to do this with HVAC repairs on my blog.
October 31, 2020 at 6:17 am |
Thanks for the info!