- Image by HarmonicMama via Flickr
was what I wanted to use, that’s when I came across this wonderful blog post, on 4 Girl Designs, about PUL and other materials used for reusable wraps/bags. In this post she mentions beeswax cloth. BINGO! That’s right up my alley. I have tons of beeswax sitting at home from an old ornament project so I googled beeswax cloth and came across this simple method for making it. Not only is beeswax cloth water resistant but it helps to prevent the growth of mold, yeast and bacteria. The only downside to this method that I see is that it’s not machine washable but it should be able to be wiped off easily to clean.
Once I read how to make beeswax cloth I got to work grating the beeswax and ironing it in. One quick tip. I found that I had to use more beeswax then I initially thought to coat the fabric, this also made it quite stiff so once I had the fabric completely coated I laid down some paper towels below the fabric, between the fabric and foil, and ironed it again to get some of the excess wax out. This kept the fabric water resistant but made it more pliable.
Now that I knew what I was going to make it out of I needed to decide on a pattern. I looked around and found quite a few designs an originally was going to go with this pattern on Craftstylish.com. While I really like this pattern I decided that I wanted to a simpler approach and made up my own design that hearkened back to the old fold over style plastic lunch bags and this is what I came up with.
- Image by HarmonicMama via Flickr
- Image by HarmonicMama via Flickr
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thanks! i saw the same post on 4 girls designs, and am glad to see that you've tried the beeswax method- i'm going to do it too. your bags look nice. are they working well for you?
How have these held up?
This is wonderful and informative! Thanks so much for writing about this 🙂
I saw the post on 4 girl designs too. All of the warnings about chemicals are so scary!
In regards to how these have held up it's hard to say because my little one lost the bag shortly after I made it and I haven't had the time to make another one yet. I had a great deal of fun making them The only thing I would change is that I would make it a little bigger this time around and with thinner fabric. My fabric was pretty thick so the final product was a little stiff.
Visiting from Kelli @ 3 boys & a dog. Glad to find your blog. I’m a crafty parent gathering info about homeschooling so I’ll be hanging around.
Visiting from Kellie’s blog. I’ve seen these types of bags, but never knew how to make them. Very nice photos and great instructions.
fabulous idea! where can find your patterns?