Feed Bag Totes.

Margaret Powell
by Margaret Powell
2 Materials
$00
1 Hour
Easy
Just About Anything is Recycle-able, It Just Needs a Purpose to Be Seen. Totes upcycled from feed bags. Dog food, cat feed, bird seed, chicken feed, horse of other animal feeds. Any bag that has a nice picture can be remade into useable totes. I use mine for carrying groceries. Saving the landfills again!
Before beginning sewing on these feed totes, set your machine to a long stitch as a short stitch can actually cut the fabric of the bags. A longer stitch is best. First I cut open the bag and decide which parts I want to use and which parts will be laid aside.
and cut away the unusable sections
I am showing a tote from a horse feed bag.
I folded down the bag at the point above the part I wanted for the front, sides and back of the totes. I then sprayed inside the bag with spray adhesive to hold the bag down.
Then I cut the side panels down to about 11 inches wide.
I used webbed belting for the straps and cut two the length of 20 inches each. The belting I choose was the width of 1 inch.
I had vinyl that I cut 1 inch squares out of and used these for the covers of the ends of the straps.
I placed the vinyl squares on top of the ends of the straps and sewed them in place where I wanted the straps to be. For my size of bag, I placed the straps in from the side seam about 4 inches. You may want to adjust this to meet the requirement of the size of your particular bag.
I then basted the two sides to the front and back pieces. (The picture does not show the straps sewn yet because I got ahead of myself and basted the bag together before putting the straps on. I had to take it apart and put the straps on and then basted it together again.)
Next I took bias binding and sewed in on top of the basting. By folding the bias under at the top of the bag, it made a neat end when folded out and under and stitched on top to finish.
Here is the finished look of the bias.
After all four corner/sides are finished with the binding, I finished the bottom in the same manner. Simply fold the bag so the sides are flat by creasing the sides in and baste the bottom. Trim the excess up to a scant 1/4 inch and sew on the binding the same way as the sides were done.
Here is the finished tote.
You will find that if you fold the end inward towards the bottom of the bag, it will "flat" bottom and set up by itself. To store, simply pull it downward and it will flatten out for storing.
Here is a view of the bag setting up with the flattened bottom.
Suggested materials:
  • Empty feed bags   (Had these)
  • Webbed Belting, bias, spray adhesive   (Had these)
Frequently asked questions
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  3 questions
  • 07t24924455 07t24924455 on Jan 11, 2018

    Am I correct that this bag does not have a flat bottom space? So the bag stays in the form of a V as it was used for feed?

  • Diane Diane on Jan 23, 2018

    These look like the kind of bags that my feed comes in. What I want to know is are these bags fabric/burlap type bags or are they the plastic/paper type bags. From the pics they look like what I am calling the plastic/paper type.

  • Kathy Kathy on Feb 04, 2018

    Because it is paper/plastic, do we need a special needle and heavier thread?



Comments
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3 of 9 comments
  • Cynthia Jo Baessler Cynthia Jo Baessler on Feb 02, 2018

    I use my bags to empty cat litter.. now have found a better use

    • Margaret Powell Margaret Powell on Feb 02, 2018
      By using the pattern above, and folding the corners in as shown, it makes for a super "trunk organizer'' since it makes them lower and wider. This "fabric" is so sturdy and last forever! I now get a guilt trip when I even think about throwing one in the trash.
  • Lynda Slocum Lynda Slocum on Feb 03, 2018

    This is a great idea. I belong to a dog searching group and these will make great gifts. Thanks for the recycling idea.

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