Pet Food Totes

If you have been with me for awhile, you know I love totes. This post is about using pet food bags, those plastic ones, to make totes. I made one years ago, but there was no sewing involved. You can find that post here. If you aren’t interested in sewing these totes, just put in the search box “totes,” and you can see the other ones I’ve made in the past.

I’ve been volunteering at a local food pantry for my friend Barbara who has had a couple surgeries and needed a bit of help. We are giving out the food, including heavy can goods, in doubled plastic grocery bags. They work, but when I saw the empty pet food bags in the trash, I thought I’d make one of these and see how it would work, especially for the can goods.

There are a lot of tutorials on how to make these. This is my favorite from Blue Earth Bags.

But before I could start, I needed to set up the machine. This plastic fabric is so much different than using regular fabric so I needed some direction on what to use and how to set it up.

I told AI what I was making, and which machine I should use to make it. I have a vintage Elna SU and a Juki TL 2200QVP. I also have a Babylock Lyric but I didn’t want to use it for this heavy project. It said that either would work, but given a choice they would pick my Juki because it is a semi-industrial machine and could handle this project.

Once I decided on the machine, I needed suggestions on needles, thread, tension, and stitch length. In the video she uses a walking foot and also a 3.5 stitch length, but no other suggestions. She’s also working an actual industrial machine.

I gave AI the different threads I had including my Superior So Fine #30 and Sew Complete #50, neither I have used for awhile. It suggested the So Fine. However, when I tested it out on a scrap piece of the bag fabric, in order to make it work I’d have to change the bobbin tension and that was not going to happen. I went back and asked AI about putting the Sew Complete in the bobbin since it is a finer thread. It agreed that would work, but I might have to change my top tension. However, it worked perfect. So now I had the thread, and I needed a needle. It recommended a topstitch 100/16 needle. I had a couple brands, but it chose the Superior one, although it said the others would work.

After running a couple experiments with the fabric and my threads, I was ready to tackle the bag. I might try using the walking foot, but it works fine with my regular foot right now. I also used a 3.5 stitch length.

For the straps you can make them out of leftover bag fabric (which you won’t have any with a 25# bag) so I opted for the webbing. In the past I made Sew Powerful purses and still had some webbing left from that project. When I get some of the larger bags, I will be making some of the handles myself.

Since we’ll be using these for the heavier can goods, I am reinforcing the straps with a box with an X. I didn’t do that originally but the more I thought about it, the more I keep thinking I needed to do that, although she doesn’t do that in the video. If you are carrying light items, it probably isn’t needed. Here is what it looks like closeup. Not perfect but these are my first couple of bags. I keep reminding myself of what Mom said years ago after I tried on another of the many dresses she made for me. I was amazed at how beautiful they were. She reminded me that I was the fourth child, the third girl she had sewn for. “You should have seen Martha’s clothes.” Martha was 13 years older than me. So when I sew something, I remember it will get better with practice, and it always does.

So that’s a new project for me. I’ve put out a call for bags, and I’ll be picking up several next week. I don’t intend these to take over my life, but for now it’s gotten me back on the machine.

Talking about projects, you probably have noticed I’ve not posted much this year. As I explained in an earlier post, I’ve been posting almost every week on Substack. On there I post about recipes from my my recipe booklet she intended to put together for my siblings. I call the series Recipes She Left Behind. However, she died before she got the chance to do that. Lucky for me I have the original. So I’ve been baking through this booklet taking the finished product to our little church for coffee hour. It’s been so much fun to make these treats I had forgotten about, and then share them. Some of the recipes have a history to them.

One of my favorites is Marianne Clayton’s Toffee Squares. Mrs. Clayton was a neighbor who lived catty-corner from us with three children. Two I remember, especially Ricky, who was a couple years younger. Before I wrote this article, I was able to find Ricky – now called Rick – and it was so much fun, and continues to be, to remember memories of our neighborhood. When looking through pictures, I found this one of Rick and me back then, in his backyard. It sure looks like I might have been sweet on him!

Here is a pic of those yummy Toffee Squares, and a link to the recipe and the story.

Also, I’ve been spending a lot of time writing a book on Mom’s diary from her time as a teenager growing up during the Depression. But it’s not just about her life, and Evansville Indiana at that time, it’s also my insight and how my life has some parallel themes. Just working on this book has made me realize how much influence Mom’s life had on mine 30 years later!

I am trying to get myself back into art and sewing. A year ago I bought a bunch of bags to organize and I recently pulled them out and put all of my projects into their own bags. Everything is together when I’m ready. I had no idea I had started all of these projects.

One of the desserts I made that I didn’t write about is called Hummingbird Cake. I made it because a friend told me she loved it. I made the sheet pan version, instead of a layered cake.

I found this wonderful tutorial from Pyes Soul Secrets, and I’ve been checking out some of her other cakes. It is so good, but if I make it again I’ll add more pineapple.

Well, that’s all for now. More to come later. Hope you are enjoying the weather in your part of the world. If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for being here.