like a pretty petunia: Clothespin Bag

If you know me personally, you know that I love hanging clothes on the line. I love the crispness of line-dried clothes and I love the fresh smell that the breeze gives to my clothes. A couple of years ago, I did an experiment and found that drying my clothes outside saved me between ten and fifteen dollars a month on my electricity bill. I especially love that! Do you like to line-dry your laundry? At first thought, it would seem that hanging the clothes on the line makes for more work. To that I say, just try it and see what you think. Laundry is my arch nemesis. I hate everything about it. Especially folding. But when I started hanging my clothes out on the line, my whole attitude about laundry changed. Weird, I know. I think it has to do with being out in the sunshine instead of locked in the laundry room. I wash and hang four loads of laundry in about an hour and a half. You can wash load after load without having to wait for the dryer. Then I just let the clothes hang until they are dry and I am good and ready. They all come down at once and are folded right away. And I've figured out how to clip them so I don't have to iron anything!

So, in honor of Earth Day I offer you this clothespin bag--to make your laundry day a little easier. All you need is a bit of fabric, some bias binding tape (you can make your own or buy it at any fabric store), some thread and a sewing machine. Oh yeah...and a pants hanger.

You will want your bag to be just a bit wider than the pants hanger. You eventually want your hanger to clip inside. My hanger measured twelve inches wide. I cut my fabric 13 inches wide. This allowed for a 3/8 inch seam and about a 1/4 inch of play. I cut my fabric sixteen inches long. You will need two pieces, one for the front and one for the back. My hanger was a bit rounded, so I rounded that top of my fabric pieces just a bit. Some hangers are flat, just do what you gotta do. Next, you are going to want to cut a "U-shaped" piece out of your front piece. This will be the opening of the bag. It's easiest to fold your piece in half vertically and cut half of the "U" so it comes out symmetrical. I left about 8 inches intact between the bottom of my "U" and the bottom of the bag. And I left 3 inches on each side. Discard the piece that you cut out.

Match the right sides of your fabric pieces together. Now sew up all of the sides of your rectangle. Flip your bag right side out. Next sew your binding around your opening. I liked a thinner look, so I cut my packaged binding in half lengthwise. If you haven't ever worked with binding tape, this tutorial might be helpful.

That's all there is to it! Open your pants hanger and slip one side of it into the opening. Close your hanger. The idea is to sandwich the back of your bag between the hanger.