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Over the past few years, I’ve established a tradition of releasing a new crochet produce bag pattern in April to help us celebrate Earth Day. And this year, I’m taking the festivities to a new level. I’ll be releasing a whole collection of produce bag patterns! Why use crochet produce bags? Reusable produce bags are great for cutting back on our plastic use. Best of all, these bags are washable, sturdy, and will expand to hold more produce than you might expect. Each bag pattern comes with instructions to make a drawstring closure so you can be sure your fruits and veggies will stay put. How to use them. All of my current produce bag designs call for No. 3 cotton crochet thread. As far as crochet thread goes, this is on the heavier side (about the equivalent of a fine or sport-weight yarn). The mesh it creates is a little larger too, so I use my No. 3 crochet bags at the grocery store to hold larger fruits and veggies, like apples or peppers. When I get to the checkout stand, I typically take my veggies out of the bag to weigh them, and then put them back in the bag when I’m done. I decided to design a crochet bag made with No. 10 crochet thread, which is lighter (about the equivalent of a lace-weight yarn), to hold smaller fruits and veggies like loose mushrooms. These particular bags are so lightweight (approx. 0.08lbs/1.23oz/35g) that I don’t even bother to remove my veggies when weighing them at the checkout counter. Reusable produce bag weight: However if you want to, you can write the tare weight on a tag and attach it to your bag so that your grocery clerk will know to subtract it from the total weight. This way you’re only getting charged for the produce item and not for the actual bag. Note: you’ll want to list the weight in the unit that your grocery store uses. In the US, this is usually pounds. Elsewhere, it might be grams or ounces. Also, some grocery stores’ point-of-sale systems can subtract the tare weight of the bags, while others cannot. You may want to check with your preferred store to see if they accommodate reusable bags. Filet crochet is perfect for reusable mesh bags! My first three produce bags all feature lace designs, but it wasn’t long before I realized that these bags are perfect for displaying filet crochet designs too. Filet crochet is a traditional crochet technique that combines double crochet stitches with chain spaces to create open and closed blocks across the fabric. A filet crochet chart, included with the pattern, shows you which blocks to fill in and which blocks to leave open. The placement of the solid, closed blocks creates the visual image. Filet crochet mesh makes a great fabric for produce and market bags. Using the smaller no. 10 thread allows for more detailed filet designs and creates a smaller mesh, which is perfect for holding smaller fruits and veggies. Multiple designs in every pattern! Each pattern will come with a bonus filet crochet design and a blank chart for you to design your own. Look for these four patterns to arrive on April 21: (1) Green Grocer (fruits and veggies) + bonus Zig Zag pattern; (2) Cherries + bonus Polka Dot pattern; (3) Flowers + bonus Flower Garden with Butterfly pattern; and (4) Strawberries + bonus Basketweave pattern. Or get them all! I’ll also offer the complete Filet Crochet Produce Bag Collection ebook, which will include all 8 filet designs, plus 2 bonus designs – Triangles and Pinwheels. Stay tuned! As a newsletter subscriber, you’ll receive a coupon code to get 20% off each of these new patterns.
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