Web handles are a woven material like the straps on a backpack. I found some at WalMart but they are rather too much money. I will look in a craft store in Bryan to see if I can find the stuff a bit cheaper. I'll have to add the cost to the bag and don't want to get them too expensive. I looked at the tote bags in the store and I know how to do the seams now, too. I guess now I have to learn to make different sizes. I have some animal material that I could make smaller ones for children to take to school or to the library. I will work more on it this week. We bought a window a/c unit for the sewing area so I won't drip all over them in the heat. It is going up over 100 degrees again this week. No rain in the forecast. I guess we had our share for now. dooley
Your bags and aprons look very pretty, nice and cheerful. Find a Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's Fabrics, they sell it by the inch, foot, yard...whatever length you need. You can also use a long strip of matching or contrasting fabric to make a strong handle without having to use the webbing. I have made dozens of cloth bags, mostly without the wrap around handles, but always made the handles out of the regular fabric and have never had one break even with a couple of gallons of milk in one bag....those are the bags that Randy carries A strip 4 inches in width, fold in half and press. Then fold each edge into the middle and press. Fold together and sew about 1/4" in from the edge up one side and down the other. It looks like you are making them with a squared off bottom too. That's good groceries will fit in better with that. I loved having the bags lined too, it makes them much stronger. Home-Sew, Inc http://www.homesew.com/BL19.html has the Cotton Web Belting (thats what you use for the handles) for 2 yards for $1.85. I had ordered from them for years when I was sewing, don't know if that's a good price or not.
Thanks, Toni! I was going to check at Hobby Lobby and Joann's Fabrics. I have to go to Bryan for that and I'm not sure when we will be going there next. It's an hour's drive so we sort of plan our trips around things. I've figured out how to do the handles. I looked at the bags in WalMart today. I think maybe I need to make some of the bags a little wider because I'm making them seven inches wide and 15 inches high and maybe they need to be eight or nine inches for some things. I'll think about that now, too. dooley
Sounds like you've got everything under control, Doley. The A/c is a great idea for the sewing room, although animal leather with 'droplet spots' on it could be the next fad. ...stranger things have happened. Keep us posted how the new bags go. If all goes well, you could open a web-shop.
