farmers' market produce bags // tutorial

FARMERs'Market

You guessed it: I’m really excited to share today’s project with you! Harlow and I had a blast making this produce bag together to use for the Farmers’ Market. We totally lucked out and there is a market held every Monday just 2 blocks from our apartment! They have awesome produce, prepared food, music and kids activities each week: it’s pretty awesome!

For this project, I thought labeling these bags using the built in ScanNCut Machine designs would be perfect paired with the Heat Applied Materials. Harlow picked out Flocking and Glitter for our apple, so it was pretty snazzy.

The great thing about the mesh material is that it stretches and doesn’t fray. We’ll finish the edges on the inside of the bag, but I wanted to keep the inner part of the handle raw, so it would roll and stretch as needed. I love how it turned out!

Let’s jump right in:

SUPPLIES

ScanNCut Machine

Standard Mat

Standard Blade

Fabric Support Sheet

Heat Applied Materials

Cotton Canvas

Mesh Material – about 1/3 to 1/2 yard

1/2″ Double Fold Bias Tape

Sewing Machine & Accessories

The first thing we will do is cut out the cotton canvas that will hold our image label. The label will sandwich the mesh material. I love the idea of the perimeter of the label getting frayed with use and wash, so I allowed (and encouraged) that as I removed my labels from my mat and sewed them on.

I used the built in rectangle shape with rounded corners. They are 4″ x 2.75″.

Place your Fabric Support Sheet on the Standard Mat. Place canvas on mat and load into your ScanNCut Machine.

ScanNCut Tip: If you are having difficulty seeing the white canvas in your background scan, change the background from the grey option (less saturated) to full color to see the outlines a bit better.

My favorite cut settings:

// Depth: 3

// Pressure: 5

// Speed: 1

Cut out the labels!

Next we will cut the Heat Applied Material.

My favorite cut settings for Glitter and Flock:

// Depth: 4-5

// Pressure: 0-1

// Speed: 1

If you are cutting a design with multiple colors, resize the image first. Select the color to start with and upon completion, your ScanNCut will give you the options in the above photo. Be sure to choose “Select the next part” to keep your changes (resizing, mirroring) when cutting the remaining pieces.

Layer the Heat Applied Material and iron to adhere to canvas. Use a piece of scrap cotton fabric between the transfer plastic and your iron. Set aside.

Next, we will cut the mesh fabric for our bag. The fold will be at the bottom of the bag and will allow for the bag to stretch. I measured about 14″ wide.

TIP: Cut slowly through a line of mesh hole to ensure a straight edge.

Trim the sides and top.

Next, cut the handle. Measure about 1.5″ from the top and cut a straight line. Start and end about 1.5-2″ from the edges.

After you’ve cut the fabric for your bag, open it up to lay flat, so we can pin the label.

Sandwich the labels on either side of the mesh. Pin in place.

Because this mesh has such large holes, we want to use a tiny stitch length to ensure our needle hits every bit of fabric that it can! Sew around the perimeter of the label – about 1/4″ from the edges.

Next, trim the top corners from your bag. This will allow the bias tape to curve around those edges, giving us a nice and finished perimeter.

Starting at the bottom fold of your bag, clip the bias tape in place. You can use pins, but the thickness of the fabric makes that difficult. If you don’t have quilt clips, tiny duck bill clips can work as well.

Continue working your way around the perimeter of the bag.

When you’ve got it in place, sew around the bias tape edges. You just need to make sure you grab both edges of the tape. Again, using a small stitch length will ensure you hit all the small lines of fabric.

Now head to the Farmers’ Market! This bag is fully reversible, and you could even make the labels different – apple on one side, carrot on the other – if you desire. Text labels work as well, I just recommend working glitter into it somehow. ;)

Have fun! I can’t wait to see your finished projects!