Fabulous & Fun Feed Sack Bag Tutorial

Who can't use another bag, right? From the farm yard to the kids' rag-tag assortment of belongings, it seems I can never have enough bags to hold everything I need held. So this year, over the holidays, I upcycled these cute feed sack bags to help corral presents for our families as we travelled hither and yon.

I made one of these bags for each family in our family, filled them with that family's gifts, and passed them our as we gathered around the various Christmas trees we visited over the Christmas season. My niece laid claim to her family's bag (made from a pig feed bag), declaring that she loved it and was keeping it forever. They were fun and simple to make, and could be made out of any kind of sturdy bag—from livestock feed to kitty litter to dog and cat food—whatever trips your trigger!

Here's a quick how-to:

1. Grab yourself a feed sack. Or kitty litter bag. Or whatever kind of bag you decide to use. I used Purina Show Chow bags leftover from Miss A's market lamb and market hog 4-H projects. Sadly, Purina did not provide me with the feed, the bag or any other compensation—though they are certainly welcome to!

2. Trim the top off the bag. I just cut the double layer all at once.

3. Then do the same to the bottom of your sack. Make it whatever size or height you want—no need to be picky. I just used the Purina checks on the side as a guide to keep me cutting straight across.

What you'll end up with is something like this:

4. Turn your bag inside out:

5. Turn under the top edge of your bag 3/4 - 1 inch or so - whatever works for you. Be as picky as you want. I just eye-balled it. If you want to measure and "pin" it, I suggest just using paperclips to hold it in place.

6. Then sew it down with a nice heavy-duty zig-zag stitch.

7. Now onto the bottom. Just show it shut with another row of zig-zag stitching. No need to even back stitch the ends since we will be sewing over them again in the next step.

8. Here's the only somewhat confusing part. Pinch the bottom edges together into a triangle. This is what's going to let your bag sit flat and make the bottom corners of the bag.

9. Now, run your zig-zag stitching across the triangle to form those bottom edges. Be sure to back stitch on these. Repeat on both sides.

10. Now it's time to turn your bag right side out. It should look something like this:

And when you look inside, it should resemble this:

11. The last step it to add your handles. I did denim handles and ribbon handles. Both worked great. The denim handles were ties from an old couch cover we wore out, and the ribbons I used were leftover from these bad boys:

Source: mydcdsite.com via Jane on Pinterest

Be creative! Or use it as an excuse to eat chocolate. Whatever makes you happy. Just make sure you get those handles stitched on their GOOD so they can carry the weight of whatever you put in the bag. I went back and forth over mine 6 or 8 times.

Ta da! You're all done!

Enjoy! I'd love to hear from you if you decide to try this to know what all you use to make your feed sack bags