Last night I repaired our two oldest and most loved reusable cloth shopping bags.
The old blue one had some holes developing. But with a little bit of sashiko (Japanese repair stitch) I was able to darn the holes closed and reinforce the cloth around them.
I chose a dark blue
thread to make the repair slightly visible, but still in keeping with the theme of the bag. Actually, it's the colour the bag started out as.
This bag was coming apart at the top of the seams so I used bias tape (you can make your own or buy it) to reinforce the seams and the top of the bag.
We sew the bias tape on once, then fold it over and sew again. That makes two rows of stitches as well as the tape to strengthen the edge.
Doing this makes me think about how good some reusable bags are. The ones made of cloth or even this old Trader Joes bag can be repaired quite easily. But some of the ones they
sell in the grocery store only last a couple of years. Each of these bags have over 15 years of almost daily use and with some love, hopefully another 15 years.