Trash Bag Holders

I was at my friend's house the other day and she was talking about how she has so many plastic grocery bags and needed to find something to keep them all in. We were celebrating her birthday a few days later so I got busy :) I can now post the tutorial since I have delivered the gift.

First I cut out a piece of fabric. I want to guess it was about 14x16" (I didn't measure)

Then I cut out another piece that would serve as my strap to hang it by. This was about 3x15"
I took the large piece, but right sides together and did a zig zag stitch down one side to make a tube
then I took each end, folded it down 1/4 inch and sewed a zig zag stitch.

I folded it again about 1/2 an inch. This time I used a straight stitch since it would show on the pretty side and i left about 1" not sewn so that I could thread the elastic through. To thread the elastic through the tube I just made, I attached a large safety pin to one side and used it to guide the fabric in. It was actually really easy.

Once the elastic was out the other side, I pulled it until the opening to my trash bag holder was all gathered up to the size that I wanted. Then I sewed the two ends of the elastic together. Then finished closing up around the elastic. (do this on both sides)


Now for the strap. I put right sides together and did a zig zag stitch down. then I used a safety pin on one end to help feed the tube right side out.

Attach the straps and..... trash bag holders! the other one I did was a little longer and I think turned out a little better. But hey, it all depends on how big you want it :)