Jars to Go Half Pint Bag
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Earlier this year I made a couple of A Tiny Forest's Jars to Go drawstring Mason jar carrier bags and really enjoyed making the bags and have also used them quite a bit.
Like many of you, I just love Mason jars, and the Jars to Go pattern really hit that sweet spot of turning out something both useful and adorable. They are also easy to make and don't take much time or materials. Basically, they are great!
So I wanted to revisit the Jars to Go pattern and make some of the jar carrier drawstring bags to give as gifts and also make some to stock in my etsy shop. And because I love sewing a variety things almost as much as I love jars, I also wanted to try her Jar Nests and the 2-jar tote and 4-jar tote patterns.
After ordering the patterns I didn't already have, I started out with the nests and some more drawstring bags. The totes are still on my to sew list and I'll let you know how those after making them. In the meantime, this post is mostly about the Jars to Go and the Jar Nest patterns.
But before saying more about these two patterns, if you are on my email list, you should check your email now. Email list members got a little special something-something related to this post and if you are on the list, I don't want you to miss it!
Back to the patterns...
Sewing to Sell
If you are sewing to sell too, you should definitely consider the patterns available from A Tiny Forest. Jar lunches are a thing (and a nice thing too!) and as you know, Mason jars have a timeless appeal for many, many people. A Tiny Forest gives permission for cottage production and it's so very nice that she spells that out in her pattern listings. Most of the time, I want to buy patterns to (maybe) sell things, but a lot of pattern makers don't mention whether they do/don't allow cottage scale production. I appreciate it when it's clear what the expectations are around sewing to sell!
Gifting
If you'd like to make these for gifting for Christmas, there are tons of ideas for things you can gift in jars. If you made jam, pickles, or canned some things this summer those will be perfect. If you aren't much of a cook, go get some bulk mixed nuts or candy, or make something fairly simple like hot chocolate, soup, or spice mixes. Most people are going to love getting something tasty to eat, a jar they can reuse later for other things, and an adorable bag, nest, or tote.
Pattern Pieces
The patterns come with the pieces for all sizes of the bags, nests, and totes. For the Jars to Go and the tote bags that means there is taping. The nests are smaller and half pieces so no taping is required.
The Jars to Go pattern is only four pieces of paper for each of the larger sizes, so it's not a lot of paper, tape, and time. I considered figuring out the measurements for measure/cut, but there are differences in the size of the lining, exterior, and fleece/batting pieces and some folds to press in different places. Ultimately, it is easier to have the pattern piece for tracing and to use as a visual reference.
Even though I haven't made the totes, she does include the pattern pieces as well as measurements in those patterns if you'd rather measure/cut and skip all the taping and not need to deal with storing the larger pattern pieces.
Box Bottom Corners
If you are on my email list and have made the Tiny Bin and like how the box bottoms are made in that pattern, I'm going to give you a tip right now:
For the Jars to Go bags, you can skip cutting out the notches along the bottom and use the measurements below for your corners. So you are sewing the bottom of the bags like the Tiny Bin and then using these measurements for the corners:
Half Pint - 1.25" at sides & 0.75" at bottom
Pint - 1.5" at sides & 1" at bottom
Quart - 2" at sides & 1.5" at bottom
You're welcome. :0]
Quilted/Patchwork Versions
So far, I've only made the very, very cute half pint bag in the photo at the top of the page from quilted exterior fabric. The pattern instructions are for using craft fleece backing on the exterior pieces, but I've been using cotton batting and muslin and quilting it to the lining.
It took a bit of thinking (and a couple mistakes) but here is the basic idea if you want to make these from a quilted fabric block:
Make the block as big as the section from the bottom of the pattern piece to the line marked "cutting line for fleece" (or a tad taller than this section).
Then add on fabric for the casing until the entire thing is the size from the bottom up to the line marked "cutting line for outer fabric".
Remember to add in allowance if you are dividing the exterior piece and remember to consider where the corners will end up by using the pattern piece as a reference.
Her patterns include a 0.5" SA so I used that which meant I needed to add 1" to the height of the the section that is the casing. For example, for the half pint the quilted patchwork piece is 6.5" high x 11.5" wide. The casing section is 3.75" high x 11.5" wide.
Drawstrings
I made fabric drawstrings (and the nest ties) because they are just so darling in pretty fabrics! But twill tape, clothesline, twine, etc. can be used for the drawstring.
My fabric pieces for the nest ties are 1.5" wide x the length in the pattern. For the drawstrings, I used 2" wide strips of fabric x the length in the pattern.
There's a tip for pressing these pieces in the original Jars to Go blog post.
