Easy Answer: There are hundreds of ways. Most of them involve sewing.

Reusable bags are big business these days; nearly every store will sell you a bag for a buck or two…or more. But you don’t have to pay for a bag that advertises where you shop. You can make your own.

I made the first bag! Are you impressed? I used a plastic grocery store bag as a pattern and worked from this Craftster tutorial.

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Bag two is slightly more involved tote pattern posted at SewMamaSew. I haven’t tried it out, but it looks pretty straight-forward if you know how to sew.

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Number three is from Martha Stewart. The crafting-queen turns old and thrifted t-shirts into shopping bags. The only sewing is a straight seam along the bottom of the bag. ( For those of you who don’t want to sew: I wonder if it’d be possible to seal up the bottom of the bag with a bunch of safety pins? Or some fabric-glue?)

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And bag four is made from a vintage pillowcase (the tutorial comes from a blog called Creative Kismet). It may be time to dig through grandma’s linen closet.

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If you’ve got a favorite bag tutorial–or want to show us the bags you’ve made–post away!