Reusable Vacuum Cleaner Bag

When my parents came down in April, they brought my vacuum.

Why? Don't you have tile floors?

Why, yes, yes we do. But sweeping just wasn't getting up all the dog hair, and we do have some area rugs. I had let my sister in law use the vacuum not thinking it would ever be able to come because it takes up the whole weight limit by itself. So it was a luxury item for sure!!

It's a vacuum that has served us well. It was a wedding present and 10 years later it is still going strong. But here's the thing.  It's a vacuum that needs a bag.  Which is one thing in the States, although it still was a pain at Barakel, but at least I had good old Amazon I could count on.  But here, it's an entirely different matter.

So, I started thinking, I could probably make a reusable one, right?  Surely the interwebs will be full of directions on how to do this...or not.  I spent hours looking and I think I found one blog that talked about how she made a reusable bag.  Here it is.

And so, today I tried it.  I found some nylon synthetic weird fabric someone gave me I figured would keep dust in, an old zipper from a cannibalized backpack and the nastiest shiny green thread (why is that in my stash?!?  What on earth would I have bought that for???)

I ripped apart my old bag, because while I have 2 new ones left, I wanted to make sure I still had two new ones if this plan didn't work out so well.  I dumped all the old junk out and have been sneezing ever since!  But then I could get the dimensions for my new bag.  I measured the length, width and depth, and cut two panels that were narrower for the sides and two that were wider for the front and back.  I used a very close zigzag stitch for the seams because I didn't want stuff seeping through.  For the top, I sewed it shut, folded it over and sewed another line, again, don't want crud escaping!

For the bottom, I used a zipper and again sewed it in place using lots of little, close together stitches.

For the part that connects to the hose, I tore off the cardboard piece from the old bag and just sewed that sucker on there with a wide zigzag.  Then I sniped the hole open and woulda looky there!  A new bag!!

I did test it out and it works perfectly!!  So exciting!  Now, no more trying to find bags, or taking up valuable luggage space when we are stateside to stock up.  Plus, it's was free, and no bags in the garbage now!