Whenever I’m out thrifting and see older embroidery hoops- of any size!- I snap them up. The older ones are of a much higher quality then today’s versions, they are SO inexpensive when you buy them secondhand, and the crafting possibilities are endless. So when I was at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago and found some hoops, you can be rest assured that they quickly made their way into my cart!

Since I’m a road trip junkie, I decided to craft something to hold all my car-garbage (“carbage”?)- straw wrappers, gas receipts, etc. I figured I could create a bag of sorts using a thrifted embroidery hoop and an old pillowcase from the linens section at Goodwill. 

All I needed to do was basically create a miniature pillowcase from the one I bought. So, I first measured around the inner part of my embroidery hoop.

Then, I cut a length of fabric from the pillowcase about an inch longer than the length around the hoop. I folded it over itself and pinned the edges together.

I stitched together the raw edges and squared off the bottom (YouTube videos are GREAT if you don’t know how to do it!), and then turned it right-side out.

I placed the inner ring just inside the opening of my bag (it was a nice, snug fit)…

And then I secured the outer ring around the outside, holding the pillowcase bag in place. Ta-da, I “carbage” bag!

I tied a loop of ribbon to the screw mechanics of the outer embroidery hoop, so that I could close the ribbon in my glove compartment. And now I’m ready to hit the open road this Spring!

There are probably all kinds of ways to stitch up a little fabric bag like this…and you can make them any size you’d like. And all for just a few coins at Goodwill- can’t beat that! Now who’s calling shotgun and where are we off to??

Craft on!

Sadie