When I mentioned on the blog the other day that I store my bread in a homemade bread bag there were quite a lot of questions left for me, both here and in the Gentle Domesticity group, so I thought I should explain a couple of things.
A fabric bag alone won't prevent your bread from drying out.
My bags are made to be decorative, to 'hide' the plastic ziplock bag which my home-baked bread is wrapped in. They add some prettiness to the kitchen benchtop and I love a pretty kitchen with pops of colour!
So there you have it. My bread bag's only function is to look pretty.
I can't find the last one I made and have a feeling it may have been thrown away during the move (it was threadbare from overuse) as I did get rid of things that had well and truly served their purpose, so this was perfect timing to make a new bag.
The nice thing about this new bag is that it's made simpler because it has no lining and uses less fabric, but is also a little larger to suit the loaves of bread I bake these days. Many years ago when I made the first bag we still bought a bit of store-bread so the bag was a tad smaller.
My bread bag has no raw seams either, but a nice clean interior that won't fray. This was important with a bag that has no lining.
So shall we make it?
I'm giving you the measurements that will fit a regular home baked loaf of bread, but you might want to bake your own loaf and measure it around the middle (or highest peak) just to be sure. My loaf is 19" around the middle. If yours is larger add those inches on to the width of the fabric.
Choose your fabrics.
I have a main fabric and a trim.
The main piece measures 21" (width) x 17" (height) and the trim measures 4" x 21".
We begin by making our first French seam.
Lay the two pieces of fabric wrong sides together along the 21" width.
Sew them together with slightly less than a 1/4" seam.
Press the seam open.
Fold the trim over at the seam line and press the fold flat.
With your ruler draw a pencil line down the length of the trim, a little more than 1/4" out from the fold.
Sew along that line.
You've made a French seam.
Isn't it lovely? And no raw edge!
Press the French seam towards the trim end of your bread bag.
Now we shall sew the sides together, so fold your bread bag fabric in half lengthways with the wrong sides together (just as we did with the trim and the main fabric).
Sew them together with slightly less than a 1/4" seam, like before, and press the seam open. You will now have a 'tube'.
Turn the bag/tube inside out...
and draw another pencil line 1/4" inside the folded seam as you did last time.
Sew along that line.
You've made another French seam!
Turn the bag right side out and iron it flat, positioning the French seam down the centre back of the bag/tube.
Sew along the bottom raw edge with slightly less than a 1/4" seam, like before.
Turn the bag inside out and push out the seam with a rounded tool (it's too hard to press this seam flat). Draw a pencil line, as before, and sew along that line. Press the French seam.
Turn the bag right side out and press.
The back of the bread bag has the seam down the centre.
Sew a doubled 1/4" hem around the edge of the trim.
I really like the French seams for a clean look, but especially because it means I didn't need to line my bag.
Cut a 40" length of ribbon or cotton webbing, and choose a button.
Sew the button over the middle of the ribbon and into the seam line at the back of the bag, near the bottom of the trim.
Pop your loaf of bread in a plastic bag and then hide it inside your pretty new bread bag.
Now doesn't that look nice on the bench?
I was thinking this would be a lovely gift for a friend.
If a friend invites you for lunch tell her you'll bring the bread, then bake her a loaf (or purchase one from the bakery) and pop it in a new bread bag.
This bag took me 40 minutes to make so it's a quick gift and you could even make a few at one time.
(Note to self: should have done that.)
Might be a nice fete/fair idea too for a homemakers stall?
I'll leave you today with a peek at the final block in this year's BOM, "The Love of Home"...
It will be yours on November 1st.
I have a project idea for it as well, so that may require an hour or two in the sewing room tomorrow after doing my chores, baking and juicing, writing a few patterns and finishing a new 'almost done' stitchery.
If I run out of time it will happen the day after.
One thing at a time works well for me, and no pressure if I can't get something done. There's always the next day.
Have a blessed week sweet one, remembering you are loved with an everlasting love that cannot be taken away or lost.
“For I am convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Romans 8:38-39)
hugs
