Today’s fun scrap project comes to us from our friend from the north, Canadian quilter Cara Wilson (@caraquilts) of Cara Quilts.  Besides being a prolific quilter, sewist, and pattern designer, Cara is the originator and hostess of the fun (and addictive) Talkin’ Tuesdays program on Twitter.

Don’t know about #talknt?  It’s a live chat that Cara hosts each and every Tuesday evening on Twitter, bringing together dozens of like-minded quilters for fun conversation and sharing.  You can almost always find members of the Fat Quarterly team hanging out with Cara & the gang on Tuesday evenings.

We knew Cara would create something great from Daisy Janie‘s Shades of Grey scrap bag, and she didn’t disappoint.  Below, Cara not only describes her fun project, but gives enough tips so that you could make your own.  Let’s have a look at Cara’s fun & funky lunch bag.

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A great thing about scraps, especially strips and squares, is the ability to sew them together to create new patchwork yardage! This is a great way to make really unique projects, whether they be bags like this or applique. When you have scraps from one project, especially if they are from a fabric line or the same designer, makes it really easy to make beautiful projects instead of just tossing the scraps, be they tossed to the scrap bin or the trash.

The fabrics I received were Daisie Janies absolutely gorgeous organics. These have such a beautiful, strong feel to them. I would never have guessed in a million years that they were organic, environmentaly friendly from start to finish. The are totally top of the line quality and worth every cent.

For this challenge I was lucky to be given several larger pieces, along with some smaller scraps. Because Daisy Janie is all about being environmentally friendly I wanted to keep that theme in mind when I went to work on my project so decided to make a re-usable lunch bag.

I simply cut and sewed pieces together until I had a large rectangle, the exact size is just dependent on what size and shape of containers you like to take in your lunch, and folded it in half lengthwise. I then sewed down the long edges and marked 3″ up and in on both sides. Drew a line connecting the marks and sewed on the line. I trimmed off the triangles and turned it right sides out again.

Because I wanted this to be easy to wipe clean for the occasional spill I made up a liner with laminate fabric, exactly the same way I did the bag, except leaving a 2-3″ gap for turning.

I also wanted a handle so grabbed some more of the scraps and sewed them into a 5″x 15″ strip. The length just depends on how long you want it to be, a hand handle or a shoulder strap. I folded it like bias binding, the folded it in half again, so the raw edges where encased, and sewed down both sides.

With the outer shell right sides out I placed it inside the liner, which is right side in, so the rights sides where facing each other, and place the strap in between the two, with about 1″ sticking up past the edges, and sewed all around the edge. Turn right sides out and stitch the gap closed.  I like to add top stitching to my bags to help keep their shape.

Going with the whole lunch accessories you could also make reusable napkins, a coffee cozy or utensil bag.

Remember just because you have scraps doesn’t mean they have to stay that way!