Crochet drawstring net bags |Keeping it Real

At the beginning of the year I decided that one of my goals for 2020 was to be more eco-friendly. Since then I shared lots of posts with tutorials to make reusable items - and today I'm sharing one more: crochet drawstring net bags.

This project was actually born at the beginning of the summer, when I realised that we were still bringing home a lot of plastic bags. We use reusable shopping bags when we go to the grocery store, but when we buy fruit or produce they almost always come packaged in small semi-transparent plastic bags.

So in an attempt to eliminate the need to use those bags, I decided to create a replacement.

These bags can easily be hand or machine washed, dry quickly and can be used over and over again. You can also hang them in your kitchen or pantry and use them to store fruit, vegetables and other items. As a bonus, they can be used as laundry nets too, gathering your most delicate pieces of clothing and keeping them from getting lost or damaged in your washing machine.

The pattern for these drawstring net bags comes in three sizes. The first I made was the medium sized one, as it's the one more in line with our family needs. Then when I had the pattern stabilised I decided to make a larger and a smaller version too:

Large – this bag will easily hold 12 to 15 pieces of fruit. Because of its larger net, usage as laundry bag is only recommended for larger pieces of clothing
Medium – this bag will hold 8 to 10 pieces of fruit
Small – this version will only hold 1 to 2 pieces of fruit. It’s great to pack on the go snacks and it’s just perfect to use as laundry net for smaller delicate items

The pattern and tutorial are instantly downloadable in a PDF file with a total of 27 pages and are written in English, with photos included to illustrate key steps in the process.