Re-usable Grocery Bag Tutorial using a cat food bag

This is kind of a crazy post (really crazy) but I just thought it would be fun to try to make something out of one of those cat food bags that are so sturdy. Cat food, dog food, kitty litter, chicken feed, etc. are now coming in bags that aren't just paper. Some of them are sort of a webbed type plastic and they are very strong. So just for grins, I made a reusable grocery bag from a Purina cat food bag. Here's what I started with...

First, turn it inside out and sew across the bottom. I tried serging it also but my serger didn't like sewing on the plastic so I gave up that idea. By the way, the reason I had to sew across the bottom was because the cat food bag wasn't sealed at the bottom. It was simply folded up several times and taped.

Next, fold the bag so that you can sew triangles on the lower corners. This will make a box-type bottom for your bag.

Now sew straight across to form your triangle. When you're done with that, cut off the excess bag in the corner.

 Turn your bag right side out. You can see how it is beginning to shape up compared to my purchased bag.

Obviously, it's a bit too tall so we'll have to cut it down a bit.

Now, take the piece that you cut off the top and cut that in half. We're going to use one of the halves to make our handles.

Now take one of these strips and fold the raw edges together, overlap them in the middle, and sew a zig zag stitch all the way around. You should come out with a circle strip that you can cut in half so that you will have two straps.

Take the body of your bag, turn down the top edge about an inch and sew a zig zag stitch all the way around.

Now all that's left is to attach the straps.

Done! Now you might not think it's too pretty but hey, it's absolutely free! And these bags are made to carry a heavy load. They are kind of stiff so they are easier to fill at the store than some of the fabric bags that are so limp. Also, they are waterproof so they'd be great to keep in the car for beach trips, etc. No need to worry about keeping them nice. When they've served their purpose or get wrecked you can just throw them into your recycling.  I know - you're wondering why you didn't think of it!