…taking reusable to the limits of usability…

My love language, it is well known, is handmade goodies. Whether it be for a new baby, or a hospital trip, or an interstate move, or pandemicly-interrupted plans, well, there’s a project for that. Sometimes, I don’t even need a reason. Approximately eleven billion years ago (ok, it was 12 years and two kids ago, but who’s counting?), I made my mum a reusable shopping bag because I was on an inspiration binge. Mum ended up using it not so much as an emergency shopping bag, but to carry her lunch and extra bits and pieces to and from work. Just a couple of months ago, I had to meet her at her car after work for child changeover (yes, another one. One of the perks of living in ones hometown is sleepovers at least fortnightly if not weekly). I look over to where mum is coming up the path, and what should she be carrying, but…

The bag lives! 12 years of almost daily use has the handles looking a bit the worse for wear, but overall, for a bag that was made over a decade ago, it’s holding up remarkably well. Even the fabric hasn’t faded a huge amount – possibly because my mum is an actual adult who sorts her washing and hangs good stuff in the shade, unlike me who just kind of throws everything in and hopes for the best. Still, after all this time, maybe it’s time I upgrade mum’s bag? Yeah. I think so. Better go fabric shopping I guess…

(You can find the tutorial to make your own bag here, and the free pattern for the handles here.)