Car Shade Lunch Box Innovation
Jen Eskridge 
Insulated lunch box? Yes, please. Check out this easy tip to see what you can sew with to make your next bag insulated.
Car Shade Lunch Bag
(From the Archives circa 2012)
Back story- I was roped into going to one of those MLM bag parties a while back, and I didn’t purchase anything. I did really enjoy checking out the monograms and styles, though.
One thing that really stuck with me was their insulated bags. I kept touching that shiny silver lining thinking “I’ve seen this somewhere, but I cannot put my finger on it.”? Ah… Then we moved to Texas where I’ve been grabbing my car shade daily to keep the sun off the driver’s seat to not FRY my buns. CLICK! That was it. A few dollars later, I have an experimental project to share with you.
Here’s the car shade and the divided Ziploc containers that would become my pattern inspiration.
And the cut pieces. I was thrilled to use this IKEA decorator weight fabric, which I have been hoarding for way too long. I was also thrilled that the rotary cutter just whizzed through the car shade easier than it did fabric.
Then some stitching, some thread changes, some presser foot changes, some Y-seams, some snipping and oh yeah – NO IRONING (as to not melt that car shade) Let me show you what turned out-
Just big enough for the Ziploc container, a juice box and a cold pack. The bag is 4 1/2″ tall total.
I made sure to have the shiny side face inward, just like commercially made bag. Not only does the shiny insulate, but it also gives the bag a great shape.
The handle was added last, centered on the top of the bag. I put the orange bow on there because, well, you just cannot have enough orange.
This is (obviously) not a tutorial. There are a zillion zippered bag tutorials online. Heck, you don’t even need the zipper- just go to your favorite tutorial and instead of interfacing, use the car shade as lining/interfacing. The sewing machine needle stitched through it like butter and you can totally pin through it. For this size, I bet I could get 3 bags out of one car shade, so there is plenty left over.
Later this week there will be an Insulated Tote Tutorial (August 12, 2026) right here on the Quilty Quill.
Categories: : Tips
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