Here’s something I thought I’d share here on the blog for National Sewing Month. I’m hitting the road today to spend the weekend with my grandfather for his 90th birthday and I wanted to make a treat bag for all of our family members. I’d seen Martha Stewart’s tutorial for an oilcloth lunch bag both on her web site and in her book, The Encyclopedia of Sewing, and wanted to try it. I’ve also had oilcloth on the brain after the release of Sewing with Oilcloth. I stayed up until 1 a.m. making five, but they’re done and, I’m happy to report, pretty easy to make! Here are a few tips from me after the jump.

• Use a sharp needle – can’t stress this enough!
• Double check your measurements!
• Give yourself enough room to work and take your time – as you add more panels, you need more room to manuever
• The instructions tell you to cut a small wedge at the corners – don’t forget to do that!
• Try mixing colors and patterns if you have scraps around the house
• Experiment with smaller bag sizes once you give the suggested size a try

Think about other durable materials that might work well for this design. I had some paper-based fabric I didn’t know what to do with, so I put it to good use here.
If you’ve tried any of the patterns or projects on Craft, please let us know!