Clothes Pin Bags

So what do you do at the beginning of your summer season of hanging clothes on the line, when you realize that your clothes pin bag has been left out there all summer last year and all winter and now it is rotten?.....basically disintegrated....gone...history... 


Well, I guess you try to figure out how to use the spare parts from the last one...aka...the plastic wire thingy and the metal hanger, and you try to figure out how to make a new one.   


So, the first one was kind of cute, but really didn't work out so well.   It does work, but just doesn't look very "professional" (not that I was claiming to be a professional clothes pin bag maker.... lol) 


 What I did for this one, was I used a denim jumper that I bought at a garage sale, cheap and cut it so that the pocket was on the front and sewed the bottom so that it would sit flat....don't think that part was necessary...oh well.

 I took a clothes hanger from the dry cleaners that has the little cardboard bar at the bottom and took the cardboard off and bent the hanger around to fit in the grommet holes.  That makes the part that hangs on the line :-)   

The second bag I made turned out the best.  I took a piece of material that was 22" long (which will be your width) and cut it to be 12 1/2 " high and then added a 2" border at the top (of a coordinating fabric).

 Put right sides together of the border and the main body of the bag. Sew a 1/4 inch seam.

Press the seam open and then fold in half, put right sides together and sew up the side and the bottom.

 Also, fold the border over to the back side and stitch down to the seam, to make a pocket for whatever you choose to put in there to hold the bag open.  I used the plastic wire that came in the old bag.  But, I have used, in the past, the plastic strapping that holds cartons of computer paper together or other cartons like that.  My husband got me some of that from the shipping dock at work.  You could even ask at Walmart of at an offfice supply store if they would have any scraps of that in the back.  Just slide it in the slot and Voila' your bag stays open.

So here is the finished project.  I'm not sure that I like the height of it.  I guess it depends on how many pins you have.  Maybe when I get more it will be just right.  You don't want it to be too shallow that the pins will fall out,  :-/  that would be bad.

So, if you have any questions let me know.  I may post another version or a video when I get this pattern perfected.  lol