Sunday, August 14, 2011

Trashy tutorial

My car is a mess and a half right now. A day of errands usually ends with receipts and gum wrappers and snack bags all over the seats. I decided to make this handy little trash can for my car and with the help of a secret weapon is stays open all the time, for easy one-handed trashing. Here's what you need:


2 pieces of fabric (print and coordinating) for the body
2 pieces of fabric for the straps
1 4"x4" square for your applique
My print fabric measured 10"x10" and my coordinating measured 12"x10" so I could make a little rim. My straps were about a foot long and 3 inches wide.
Pins
Rotary cutter/scissors
WonderUnder (or another fabric fusing material)
Pipe cleaner

The first thing is to make your applique. Follow the directions on the package of WonderUnder and cut out your design. I made a little trashcan, for obvious reasons.

After you cut our your applique, iron it onto the center of your patterned fabric. Then stitch around it using a straight stitch. You can add a little detail, like I did, if you want.


Then you'll want to layer your solid fabric and your patterned fabric wrong sides together. Pin them right down the middle and at the bottom, making a little sack with an opening at the top. You should have about an inch or two of fabric left at the top of your solid fabric - this is for the rim.


Sew your seams. These are just easy cheesy straight lines. It doesn't matter if they are perfect, because you can trim them and you're going to flip the whole thing rightside out when you're finished.
Flip your bag out and pin the extra fabric for your rim over. Iron it so it stays, but don't stitch it down yet. Take your fabric strips for your handles and attach them in the back, under the rim.

Sew a straight stitch across the back of your bag along the rim, securing the straps. You will want to back stitch to make sure that you have a little extra reinforcement. Now you can add the pipe cleaner. This is just sturdy enough that the bag will stay open all the time. Slip it under the front bit of the fabric rim and sew around the front.



And you're done! You can add velcro on the end of your straps and shorten them for a perfect fit, but I left mine long so I can just tie them to the back of the head rest. Trim up your threads and go find an old produce bag and you're on your way to a more tidy car. This is what it looks like when you're all done.









3 comments:

  1. I love this! I have been thinking for the past few days how I need to make a trash can for my car! I am pinteresting this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Soooo incredibly cute!!! If you had an etsy, I'd buy stuff from you...just sayin'. ;) You make adorable things!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey - saw your siggy on the July 2010 board and came to check you out. I love how crafty you are! I got back into the sewing mode this summer, too, and have been making lots of new things. I blog about them, too. I'm in the middle of attempting a felt playhouse for my kids' Christmas gift and it, too, depends on their good... or not so good... naptimes.
    I love this trash can idea.
    So glad I found you!

    ReplyDelete