Thermos bag

Yesterday I claimed that I would do some SWAP sewing. It didn't happen. Instead I did all the usual things required after a week away (laundry, laundry and grocery shopping) and made this thermos bag at my husband's request. Exciting hey! but I have decided to document all my sewing, not just the amusing things. One day I may want to remember how I did this.

 

My husband bought a car fridge for our camping trip. We thought quite a bit about the limitations to our camping and decided that feeding 2 teenagers, and the rest of us, was becoming rather tricky over an extended period, so we thought a combination of pre-prepared dried food, and more high calorie refridgerated food, such as cheese (OK, and chocolate), would allow us to camp for longer in remote places.
The convenience idea of dried food, is that it can be reconsituted in a thermos, so when you set up camp in the evening, your dinner is mostly ready, having been prepared a few hours earlier by merely boiling the kettle. (and a week or two earlier by spending all evening cooking and drying an appropriate meal, but I digress)
Unfortunately, the new fridge meant that our standard thermos spot in the boot was taken. There was a new shelf like spot of apparently the perfect size, but this spot was no good. Every time we opened the boot for a snack on our Sydney trip, the thermoses fell out, very annoying.
I made a drawstring bag by quilting the remains of an old dressing gown to some remnant denim. I thought that the dressing gown cotton velour was not strong enough for attachment to the webbing, but wanted the velour for insulating properties.
I attached 3 webbing straps to the back of the bag. One is to hold a long strap which restricts vertical movement of the whole bag when closed, and the other two are short straps to attach the bag to the handle of the frige when the bag is open, so the thermoses can be removed.

 

Looking at this photo, I am very glad there are 4 rows of double stitched zig-zag attaching the webbing to the bag. I may need to reinforce this further.

 

Inside the main bag, are two individual drawstring bags made from the sleeves of the dressing gown. I have attached a circle made from 2 layers of the velour to the bottom of the sleeve, to provide further insulation and protection from bumps.
I promise to write about garment sewing next post.
Thank you for the kind comments about my knitting post. Lisa wanted to know why my children were wearing jackets. The photo was taken in the very early morning at Yarraman, which is inland QLD. It was not cold compared to a North American winter! but we are used to fairly constant warm weather, and it was less than 20 degrees Celcius, so my children wanted a warm jacket. They also wore their jackets in Sydney several times, although their cousins did not need jackets. We are used to around 30 - 35 degrees Celcius, and this is comfortable temperature for us. Our Sydney relatives find this far too hot!