Sewing a Reusable Bread Bag from Scraps

By Removing Common Stains from Household Tablecloths
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8 Aug 2026

Sewing a Reusable Bread Bag from Scraps

Why a cloth bread bag earns its keep

A homemade loaf deserves better than a plastic bag. Cloth lets the crust breathe while the drawstring holds in just enough moisture to keep the crumb soft, and because you can shake out the crumbs and wash it, the same bag will see you through years of Saturday baking. It also happens to be a perfect project for the scraps tin — two rectangles, four seams, and a length of cord. Half an hour at the machine, start to finish.

Shop-bought cotton bread bags are often thin, overpriced, or lined with something that defeats the point. Sewing your own means you control the fabric, the size — a long bag for a baton, a squat one for a cottage loaf — and the finish.

Choosing the right scraps

Bread needs a fabric that breathes but does not shed fibres onto the crust. Aim for a close-weave cotton or linen of medium weight: the sort of thing left over from a shirt, a pillowcase, an old sheet, a curtain lining or a quilting project. Pieced panels look charming and use up odds and ends, so long as you press the seams flat before cutting the bag shape.

Good choices: cotton poplin, shirting, quilting cotton, linen, cotton canvas, old cotton sheeting, clean tea towels.
Avoid: anything waterproof, coated, waxed or backed with fusible interfacing, plus polyester blends that trap condensation and make crusts go leathery.
Always pre-wash your scraps at 60°C and press them hot before cutting. Cotton shrinks, and a bag that shrinks after the first wash is a nuisance.

What you will need

Two rectangles of fabric, each 34cm wide by 44cm tall, or one piece 68cm by 44cm
Matching cotton or polyester thread
About 90cm of 3mm cotton cord
One cord lock — the little barrel toggle with a spring inside
A safety pin or a small bodkin for threading
Machine needle suitable for medium cotton, stitch length about 2.5mm
Iron, tailors' chalk or a fading pen, pins or clips

Finishing roughly 32cm by 38cm, this size fits an 800g tin loaf or a decent sourdough with room to spare. Scale it up by a few centimetres for a large bloomer, or down for rolls and a half loaf.

Cutting out and marking the casing

Press your fabric properly first — you will thank yourself at the seams. Cut the two rectangles, then lay them together and check that the edges match; trim any wobble now rather than fighting it later. On the right side of each piece, measure down 4cm from the top edge and draw a light chalk line across. That line marks the bottom of the drawstring casing. On one piece only, mark a 5cm gap along that line, roughly in the middle of one side; this is the opening you will thread the cord through.

Sewing French seams that will not fray

French seams enclose every raw edge, so the inside of the bag is as neat as the outside and nothing frays in the wash. Work in this order.

Place the two pieces with wrong sides together, edges level. Pin along one side and stitch a 6mm seam. Repeat on the other side.
Trim both seam allowances down to 3mm and press them open. Take your time here; a lumpy first seam makes a lumpy second one.
Turn the bag inside out so the right sides are now together, and press the seams so they sit exactly on the fold.
Stitch again, 1cm from the fold, down each side. The trimmed raw edges are now trapped inside. Press the finished seams flat.
Turn the bag right side out and close the base. Stitch across the bottom with a 1cm seam, trim one allowance to 4mm, fold the wider one over it, press, then topstitch 6mm from the seam to catch the fold. This run-and-fell finish is strong, sits flat, and hides the raw edge.

Give the whole bag a good press, paying attention to the corners, which should be squared off with a point turner or the blunt end of a pencil.

Casing, cord lock and finishing

Fold the top edge 1cm to the wrong side and press, then fold it down another 3cm and press again. Stitch all the way around close to the lower fold, and again 5mm above it for a tidy double row — but leave that 5cm gap unstitched so you have a way in. Reinforce the gap edges with a couple of reverse stitches.

Attach the safety pin to one end of the cord and feed it through the casing, working it round until it comes back out of the gap. Pull the two ends level, slide on the cord lock, and knot the ends together firmly, trimming the tails to about 2cm. Slide the lock down to cinch the bag shut; a gentle tug is all it needs. Cotton cord can fray at the cut end, so a dab of clear nail varnish or a tight double knot keeps things neat.

If you prefer a cleaner cinch, stitch a second row of casing stitching to create two channels and thread a separate cord through each, so the bag pulls closed from both sides.

Using and caring for your bread bag

Keep the bag inside a bread bin or a cool cupboard rather than on a sunny windowsill; cloth protects from dust and flies, not from heat.
Shake out crumbs every few days — they are what turns a bag musty.
Wash at 40°C every two to three weeks. Skip fabric softener, which coats the fibres and reduces breathability, and press while slightly damp.
Sew two, so one can be in the wash while the other is in service.
For anything you will not eat within three or four days, slice and freeze it; no cloth bag will hold a loaf indefinitely.

Once you have made one, you will find yourself sizing up every remnant in the tin. A bag for the rolls, a longer one for baguettes, a small one for the seed loaf — all from the same afternoon's sewing, and all far better looking than anything plastic.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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