Receipt Wallet from a Market Bag

I know we've all seen them everywhere ..... most stores now carry market bags to cut down on plastic waste. Some have the store logo on them, but a few sell them without it (I've found them at Michael's, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx and Pier 1, but I'm sure there are others). Yesterday I spied these bags on clearance at Pier 1 for .98 cents each!

They had other patterns I liked better, but they were still priced at the regular price of almost $3.00  ..... so I'll wait till those go on clearance too!  I purchased 3 of them, thinking there had to be other things I could make with them.

After searching around the web, I found this tutorial. I really need a receipt wallet for my purse, so I got out some pink bias tape and then started tearing apart my bag with a seam ripper. The bag came apart very easily, and the best part was that there was already a bias tape attached to the bag! I kept it intact on several pieces thinking I could use that for the pocket pieces and I wouldn't have to sew on my pink bias tape .... and I was right. Yay, one less step! I cut my pieces out like so:

The 2 larger pieces are 7 1/4" by 6 1/2"... the 2 smaller pieces (pocket pieces) are 2 1/2" by 6 1/2" (see how I kept the bias tape on them?)

Next step was to put the 2 larger pieces together, wrong sides together.

If you have spray adhesive, put a little bit in the center to hold them together. I do not have any, so I put a small bit of Tacky Glue on instead.

Now take the 2 pocket pieces and lay them on top, like so:

I used clothespins to hold it all together, as I didn't want to poke holes in it with pins. I didn't have any small clothespins, so I made do with what I could find!

I then took it to the sewing machine and sewed a 1/4 seam all the way around the edges.

It was very easy to sew through, and I did not put any special presser foot or needle on my machine.

Now I had to figure out how to keep it closed ... I decided on using either sew- on Velcro or snaps

Since I had not yet had a chance to use my new snap-setting tool, I opted for that. You could also punch holes and string ribbon through too.

My DH came home at this point and decided he would help me with the snaps ... unfortunately he put them on a little crooked, so please ignore that part and put yours on straight... LOL!!

And there you have it .... an easy wallet to make out of a market bag

I think I'd like to try a lunch bag next.... or how about an apron ..... the possibilities are endless!

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