The idiot's guide: How to make a miniature lunch bag.

Hoho! 

It's a glorious Sunday here, and today will be the FIRST time I'm creating a photo tutorial!
Actually, it's the first time I'm creating a tutorial of any kind.

Solemn apologies for any mess-ups, missed details or dirty fingernails. Ahem.

Today, we conquer..

THE MINIATURE LUNCH BAG.

-wields sword and charges at army of lunch bags.

Before I start, let me just say that I am sure many of you have made miniature bags before, and this project is probably at a difficulty level of 0.0001 upon 100. Seriously. But I'm still going to go ahead and post this write-up, hoping that someone out there will benefit somehow. :)

For people who are seeking the short-cut, here.

For everyone else, let's start! :)

First, we will need some clean brown papers. They could be in the form of real life lunch bags, or brown envelopes. So do flip through your mail for anything you can save before you chuck them all in the bin!

And then we need the usual craft items.

A pair of good, sharp scissors. (or penknife/craft-knife if you prefer)

A sturdy ruler.

A well-sharpened pencil.

White glue, or any glue that will bond paper to paper. Or even double-sided tape.

 

Now choose your preferred brown paper and cut out a rectangle measuring 5cm in length and 3cm in width.

Using your ruler and pencil, measure and draw out the guiding fold lines below on the rectangle.

All measurements are in cm. 

Note that you may change measurements according to your preference for a bigger/smaller/longer bag. Experiment with various sizes! :)

(please pardon this crudely photoshopped image!)

  (click to enlarge)

Fold the rectangle along all the guidelines and make sure that folds are all in the same direction, i.e all folded in/out.

Score the folds by dragging your ruler along them.

This might seem like an unnecessary step, but it is crucial in making your fold lines crisp and neat.

Erase the guidelines after folding, and draw an additional guideline as shown. 

Cut out sections as shown below.

The additional guideline is for the serrated edge of the lunchbag.

 

 Snip away diagonally, making little diagonal cuts which stops before the guideline. 

Leave the shaded portion uncut.

 Snipping away in the opposite direction, you will have a serrated edge, which will be the open side of the lunch bag.

 

Erase the shaded portion, and apply glue/tape on the sections shown below. 

Fold lunch bag together, applying slight pressure on the glued portions.

 

 Now, snip according to the existing serrated edge for the overlapped portion (which is the shaded portion).

 

 Your lunchbag is almost ready! :)

 

 Fold halfway in for both sides, so that the lunchbag can lie flat.

 

Hooray! Now you can make many many more lunchbags for your miniature food. :)

 For people who have no time to read through my long-winded instructions, 

here's a quick step-by-step evolution of the lunchbag.

(click to enlarge)

Now you just have to fill these nice brown bags up! :)

I'm thinking apples, french loaves, a slim wine bottle. How about you? :)