Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Reusable Sandwich Wrap

I made a sandwich every morning for ten years. At least. My mom (wisely) had my brother and I making our own lunches for school more or less as soon as we could wield the peanut butter knife without hurting ourselves. As a result, I can pack a lunch in 5 minutes flat while brushing my teeth and packing a school bag (ok, not quite). Every morning of the ten years I made a sandwich, I used a paper towel to set the bread on (because our counter was clean and I didn't want to get it crummy) and a sandwich bag to carry to to school in. If the paper towel hadn't gotten jam on it, it might double as a napkin for the day. When I studied abroad in Germany in college, a fellow student was packed a sandwich by his host father in wax paper. Fascinating. This was the first time I had not seen a sandwich not wrapped in either a.) a plastic bag or b.) plastic wrap. What else were people using for their sandwiches?

Several years later, the resuable bag movement became more mainstream and I found out. Reusable sandwich bags that ranged from simple bags that mimic-ed a Ziploc bag with cotton and velcro to those that could double as a placemats.

How much trash had I produced in ten years?

I wanted one of these resuable bags, but I had fabric, a sewing machine, and not much money so I didn't want to pay for one. I researched (read: looked a pictures on the internet) and began to think about what style would suite me best. I quickly realized I didn't really like the Ziploc mimics. They seemed like they would get crumbs in the rough side of the velcro and that's no fun. I also liked the idea of a placemat because then I could get rid of the paper towel in the morning and also not get crumbs on my desk. So a placemat. Here's the first one I made about December or January (Just because I didn't post on here for a year doesn't mean I wasn't making stuff)
I like it. I also refer to it as my sandwich diaper. It was essentially a mock up and I had plans to make at least one more. I finally did and you can see it on my etsy shop. My husband recently started law school and when I got up in the morning I would find a plate with crumbs, a jam encrusted knife on the breakfast table, and one fewer ziploc bags in my drawer. Since my husband had already laughed at my sandwich diaper and the apples weren't exactly mansculine, I decided to try one more time at making a reusable sandwich wrap. I realized I don't have much fabric of the appropriate weight and content that is masculine, but I found some nylon my mom bequeathed me and some thin denim from a backpack my mom and I had started when I was 10 (it's still unfinished). Here is the result.
How I made these
1.) Pattern fabric
2.) Trial and error

What I used
1.) cotton (cuz it's plentiful)
2.) nylon for the lining (so I can wipe off the jam that always spills out when I cut my sandwiches in half)  

Why I like these
1.) Isn't that what this whole post is about?
2.) They can be thrown in the wash whenever they need a deep cleaning.  The nylon liner makes it easy to wipe jam spills off without having to wash the entire thing daily, but it can be thrown in with a load of wash.

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