As summer comes sweetly to a close we are gearing up for fall. Nothing says back to school quite like a cute lunch bag! These DIY lunch bags are a fun paper bag style. They are lined with upcycled plastic so that you can wipe them out if they get messy. We made the lining by merging plastic bags with an iron! Very easy to do and also super fun. Read on for the step-by-step picture tutorial.

Here’s what you’ll need to make a cute lunch bag:

• Scrap fabric – 2 pieces 11.5″ x 15″
• 4 clear plastic bags
• Parchment paper
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Sewing pins
• Snap fastener
• Needle and thread

We found this sweet Looney Tunes fabric in a free bin and knew it would be perfect for a cute lunch bag! But, we also wanted to be able to wipe the inside if it got messy. That’s when we thought about lining the fabric with upcycled plastic. Did you know you can use an iron to fuse plastic bags together?!

How to Make a Cute Lunch Bag:

Start by fusing 2 plastic bags together. We reused clear bulk food bags. Put your iron on a low heat – something you would use for a synthetic material. Sandwich your plastic bags in between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Make sure that you iron on top of the parchment paper and not directly onto the plastic. Keep the iron moving and check for progress. Stop once your plastic bags are fused together. Easy peasy!

The next step is to cut 2 pieces of fabric to 11.5″ x 15″. Then trim your fused plastic sheets to 9.5″ x 13″.

Pin the fabric to the plastic sheet to prepare for sewing.

Here’s how the pieces will look after sewing.

Now place your 2 pieces back-to-back with the fabric sides touching. Then sew 3 sides together, the outsides and the bottom. It will look like this:

Pull at the sides of your bag and then fold the bottom of the bag into a diamond shape. Measure 1 1/4″ from each corner. Pin to secure and then sew across.

Once you’ve sewn the corners you can cut the corners. This might be the first time we’ve ever recommended cutting corners.. 😉

Flip your bag inside out and admire your handiwork. Now return to your ironing board and iron the creases on the sides of the bag. This will really give it that paper bag shape. Be sure to use a really low heat so that your plastic doesn’t fuse together. Fold the bottom of the lunch bag like a paper bag and iron to set this crease. Your cute lunch bags will now be able to stand up on their own.

Fold your cute lunch bag like a paper bag and sew on a snap fastener.

You now have a cute lunch bag! Perfect as kids lunch bag or for trendy adults.

Special thanks to Leora and Beth for their help with this cute lunch bag tutorial!