More Uses for Empty Feed Bags

Since most of the feed we use at the farm is packaged in the poly bags, I am always trying to think of what to make from the empty sacks. All that reusable material has to be good for something,right?  There are not enough hours in the day for me to up cycle every used feed bag but here are a couple of   uses that you might consider.  My business partner is very industrious and makes many totebags for us to offer to our customers at the feed store. We started making them back in 2010 and they remain popular still, today.  Many people have caught on to this wonderful use of potential trash for the landfills.  These totebags are sturdier than most other totebags.  My bag is going on three years old and gets weekly use, if not more often. It has no rips and the handles are still sturdy and intact.  

If you haven't seen the feed bag totes,the directions are on this earlier post.  

My latest re use is making coffee cup sleeves from the feed bag fabric.  For this project I used a quilting term known as fussy cutting to cut out specific pictures in the needed  pattern shape.  I began with a  Purina Mills Flock Raiser bag.  and a sleeve from the local coffee shop.  This bag has many different types of poultry pictured on the front and back.   I made a pattern from a cardboard coffee cup sleeve and cut out two pieces, making them just a bit bigger than the finished size.  Make sure that you mark the pattern with "top" and "bottom"before cutting.  If you skip this, you could end up with a sleeve that has an upside down turkey or duck on it.  Trust me on this.  I just know it can happen. 

Now, holding the two cut pieces together, right sides out, begin sewing the outside edges together.  I used my serger but you could use a zig zag or other decorative stitch on a regular sewing machine too.   Trim your threads and fold it into position for joining the two ends.  Refer back to your sample sleeve to make sure it is going together correctly.  Using a regular sewing machine, stitch the two ends together.  Trim threads and slip onto standard shaped coffee cup.  Be proud!  Go make yourself a fresh pot of coffee. 

I think these would be a very cute gift for a co-worker or neighbor packaged with a packet of hot drink mix.  Tie it up with a piece of twine or ribbon and voila!  

And before I leave you with the above, here's another use of empty feed sacks. We were experiencing a colder than normal  spell and I was concerned about the ducks and turkeys with the mesh windows.  Here's how we solved the dilemma. Free, and easy.  

Now where are we with that coffee? 

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