I have a confession to make: I am a hoarder of empty feed bags.
A couple of months ago someone was looking for some and I thought for a second that I would FINALLY be rid of the ??? number of bags I had stuffed into a corner of the feed shed. She changed her mind about said art project and I realized I needed to finally DO something with these.
So I’ve been brainstorming ideas for upcycling these sturdy feed bags… and wondering if I should have chosen my animal feed based on the exterior of the bags. WHY DID I GET YELLOW FEED!?! Yellow isn’t my favorite color.
I’ve been using the “ugly” ones for garbage bags. They’re perfect bags for the garage as they’ll hold wood scraps, nails, screws, and pieces of wire without ripping the bag.
For my first true project, I rigged a huge tarp to cover the end of our DIY chicken tractor. It took about nine bags and worked GREAT.
This is project #2. As I love the color blue and cute goat faces, it seemed like a good idea to make something decorative out of this goat feed bag. I LOVE making grocery bag holders from fabric so I decided to try making one with feed bags…. WITHOUT using elastic.
You’ll need:
- A sewing machine
- (1) Feed bag
- Scissors or rotary cutter
Start by taking your feed bag and cutting the bottom off. I cut right below the photo of the goat.
I cut up the sides and used only the front of the bag.
I folded the bag in half with the white sides out.
I cut an angle at each side at the bottom. The opening wasn’t quite wide enough so I had to cut off a bit more later on. You want the bottom of the holder smaller than at the top… this keeps the bags from falling out.
I sewed along the long edge and each diagonal.
I turned it all right sides out so you can see the goat face again. Then I folded over the top of the bag and the bottom of the bag. I sewed a straight stitch around to make the edge look finished. This was difficult… you can skip this if you want!
I cut a long piece of leftover feed bag to use for the strap. This is around 23 x 4”.
I folded the edges like this and pressed them with my fingers.
Then I folded them in half and sewed a straight stitch.
I sewed each end of the strap on one side of the grocery bag hanger.
And that’s all there is to it! Very simple! This should be pretty durable too!
Grocery bag holders make GREAT gifts for friends and family. Everyone needs one, and if they have one, they could probably use another. We keep one upstairs, one in the kitchen, and another in the garage. I just made a DIY bag holder from scrap wood too!
What’s your FAVORITE use for these feed bags?
Oh if you haven’t seen one of these bag holders in action, here’s how they work:
Danielle Pientkais a stay-at-home mom to three boys and a blogger atDIYDanielle.com. When she’s not chasing children, goats, or ducks, she’s gardening, reading, sewing, or brainstorming her next DIY project. She is the author of How to Sew Cloth Diapers, as well as a few other sewing books. Her husband and she developed a sewing phone app,Sew Organized, available for iOS and Android devices. Connect with Danielle on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube, and read all of her MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here.
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