Sew Reusable Fabric Shopping Bags
Free Morsbag Sewing Pattern for "Green" Cloth Grocery Tote Bags
Sewing reusable shopping bags from recycled fabric helps reduce the number of plastic bags used. The Morsbag initiative offers a free sewing pattern to get people started
Morsbags is an initiative that has been set up to encourage people to sew and distribute grocery bags made from recycled fabrics. The bags are given free to shoppers, and on average each bag saves 80 plastic grocery bags from entering the waste cycle.
How to Make a Morsbag or Reusable Cloth Shopping Bag
Anybody can make a Morsbag, and there is a free sewing pattern and full instructions on the Morsbags website. These are provided in Word (DOC) and PDF format, and there are even animated instructions. This is ideal for for visual learners who find written instructions sometimes difficult to follow. Any fabric can be used and many people make their Morsbags from recycled fabrics such as old sheets or duvet covers, cast-off clothes or remnants from other sewing projects.
The Morsbag Initiative
The concept of the founder, Pol Morsman, however, is to make this more of a sociable activity. Rather than people making reusable shopping bags individually, the idea is for groups of people come together and form "pods". The aim of the pods is to make a number of Morsbags using recycled materials and then give them away in "guerilla" marketing activities. This isn't as scary as it sounds; it might simply involve giving the bags away in a supermarket, offering them free through church or social groups, or perhaps just popping a bag through a neighbor's doors. The Morsbag initiative is totally non-commercial and the bags are not sold.
The sewing pods form several functions. First, it is more social to get together with a group of like-minded people to make a few bags, ensuring that the activity remains fun. Secondly it ensures that everyone with an interest can take part; a production line can operate with one person cutting, another sewing, and someone else doing the finishing. The websites suggests another important responsibility too – and that is wine pouring! The emphasis is on helping the environment, while still having fun.
Morsbags are easy to sew and make ideal beginner projects for novice sewers. A few basic sewing skills are required and the bags are made from all straight lines meaning that there is no tricky shaping involved. More experienced sewers can add embellishments if they require, but given the nature of the project and that there are an awful lot of plastic bags to replace, the experienced sewers may prefer to use their skills to produce a high quantity of bags.
Don't let the guerrilla aspect put you off! There are many individuals who are producing Morsbags and sending them to established pods to distribute.
There is much more information on the Morsbags website, including the free Morsbag sewing pattern and a directory of existing pods.
Other Free Carrier Bag Sewing Patterns
In addition to the Morsbag initiative, there are plenty of other free sewing patterns available for shopping bags, so if you fancy having a go at making a bag there are lots to choose from:
- Make It Easy – easy tote bag pattern
- Patterns That Fit You – tote bag made from fabric scraps
- The Creative Thimble – downloadable free grocery bag pattern in a PDF format
- Chica and Jo - great pattern for reusable bag and step by step instructions.
