Recyling Rice Sack to Shopping Tote

If you are Asian (like me), you go through sacks and sacks of rice. And if you go grocery shopping, you end up with tons of plastic bags. To reduce our environmental footprint, why not turn those sacks into shopping bags? I did that for years but regular rice sacks are not very stable as they are not flat bottomed, like those shopping totes you see being sold for up to $5 each. The other tutorials to turn sacks into totes involved a LOT of sewing. That is until I figured out a way to repurpose rice sacks with minimal sewing.

Rice Sack

Needle

Pins

Thread or dental floss

Scissors

Turn your rice sack inside out. flatten the bottom and turn up the corners as shown

Measure how far in you want to go and pin in place. Do the same to the other side, making sure they are even.

Fold the corners in. Stitch the edge. If you have a sewing machine, do a couple of rows for strength. If you hand stitch, try to do dense stitches for strength. I used dental floss for even more strength. Repeat on the other side.

What the finished bag looks like inside out.

Turn the bag right side out. Fold the corners in.

How the bags look folded like a paper shopping bag.