A place for everything ~ Madigan Made { simple DIY ideas }

August 2, 2010

A place for everything

6:22 AM Shannon Madigan

Madigan made... a shopping bag holder thing-y.

At the Madigan house, we try and 'do our part' and shop with reusable shopping bags. We are pretty good about remembering them for the grocery store.
But we inevitably collect some paper and plastic bags. They can come in handy - so we do save them to reuse.

In our kitchen pantry - we have IKEA's plastic bag dispenser. I think many homes have this guy:

But we struggled with where to keep larger, heavy paper shopping bags (they can be handy, too). We would fold and tuck them between the door jam and bag dispenser. But, they kept falling down.

After some brainstorming, I realized that I could probably make something to hold them. It could fit it the back corner of the pantry.

Since it would be tucked away in a dark closet, I wanted a fun fabric that went with our kitchen colors (white, reds, golden tan). This graphic red and white pattern with a sunny gold lining seemed right.

I used my basic gusseted purse pattern and approach to construct it. I've written before about my very first purse making adventure. I've made loads of purses. I realize as I write this post, that I've yet to review how I make a purse. (Oops! Making a mental note for a future post!)

Instead of purse handles, I added a flap at the back that was heavily reinforced with fusible interfacing. Some buttonholes and S hooks did the trick to hang the holder from wire shelves.

I put it together quickly. I was not even sure it would work out. This is partly why the fabric pattern is not quite centered and my stitches are not quite straight.

When I put the shopping bags in my new invention, the opening sagged. So the button-rope closure was a bit of an afterthought. (yes, it is actually an old shoelace!)