R whisked me away to Dublin for a relaxing weekend and although it is colder than at home the sun is shining and there’s clear blue sky (rather than the snow and rain of home). Ireland is very active in its social and environmental policy making, for example a couple of years ago they banned free plastic carrier bags in the shops.  So people either buy carrier bags at the checkout or bring in reusable bags.  Apparently although there was uproar at first most people have adapted smoothly to the ban.

Like many people I am trying to reduce adding to my pile of plastic shopping bags.  I have a variety of reusable shopping bags but inevitably they are rarely with me when I need them.  I saw this tutorial and thought that if I kept a neatly folded bag in my handbag and messenger bag then I might be more successful.

The bags have a pocket on the outside with velcro on the outside of the top of the pocket and on the inside of the bottom of the pocket to keep the bag neatly folded.  I’ve made two so far, one as part of a swap and the other as part of N’s birthday present.  At some point I will make a few for myself. The bag rather large (big enough to do a reasonable week’s shop) so I’ve used a thin canvas in the second bag and it still folds up well.

In the second bag I also added a zip to the pocket to make it more secure for holding keys/wallet etc.  I “borrowed” the second bag when I was caught out bagless in the supermarket and hadn’t yet posted the present and I was pleasantly suprised at how much it held and how comfortable it is to carry.