Crochet Peg Bag

Pegs are a boon for people who dry their clothes on the clothesline. At the same time they are pain too, because, you just can’t find one when you need one. Sounds familiar, well the peg bags are designed to relieve you of that very pain. Well that was the original intent, nowadays though these bags are as much about utility as they are about creative expression.

Most popular peg bag designs include a clothes hanger that is used to hold the bag in place. There are other variations too like the use of handles to have the bag hanging from your shoulder rather than from the clothesline. But hangers seem to be the most common ones. If you are planning on making your own peg bag pattern, going for the hanger-based model is simple. The best pattern would be a dress pattern. We hang our dress on the hangers all the time, so why not make a dress-like clothespin bag?

Peg Bag Dress

You can choose any dress that would fit an infant. For the boys it can be shirts and for girls it can be a frock or some other cute dress. Cut out the shape accordingly and stitch it along the edges. Now place the hanger appropriately and you have your peg bag ready.

The next question is the size of the peg bag, how big do you want it. That to a large extent is determined by the hanger you choose. The bag cannot be too small that the hanger sticks out nor too large that it doesn’t fit the hanger. So fix the shape and size of the bag based on the hanger. You can use multiple pieces of cloth to make your bag or fold a single large piece as you desire.

Lastly come the finishing touches. Use some props to enhance your peg bag. Pockets, and other accessories stitches on the bag pattern enhance its looks.

Peg Bag (Handle Type)

Peg bags are common bags that have been used to hold the clothespins – which almost always tend to get lost when you need them. Over the years, these peg bags have changed from simple bags to store pegs to more decorative and artistic ones. Today, these need not just serve the original intended purpose. For some, these have become collectibles too.

For many of us, we may want the peg bag – either to store pegs or for our collection – but just don’t want to make it at home. This could be because, we do not have the patience to take this up, or we simply do not want to spend time making it, or we just don’t have the skills to create a great looking bag.  For such people, we have the commercial markets that can come to our rescue. There are several places where you can purchase popular commercial peg bags.

Natural Calico Peg Bag

Among the common brands, the H & L Russel Natural Calico Peg Bag is probably one of the simpler, yet appealing bags. This 29 cm x 28 cm bag is made from durable calico. It is easy to use and very easy to wash. H &L Russel also have a shoulder variation of these clothespin bags. These come with a long handle and made from toughened cotton.

Another quite popular peg bag brand is the Rex Inter. They make a brighter set of polka dot bags. These relatively spacious bags are around 39.5cm X 38 cm.

Besides these, you can find many more such peg bags in your local stores. If you do not want to spend a lot of time walking in stores, you can purchase these from the comfort of your house too. If you have an Internet connection, a PC and a credit card, just browse for these peg bags online and order them. They’ll be shipped right to your door step.

Red Polka Dot Peg Bag

Decorating Peg Bag

Peg bags are not just simple utility bags for holding the clothespins – they are a great form of creative expression too. Many ardent followers of the clothespin bags look to improvise on bag patterns. Bag patterns can vary from simple square or rectangular to more complex ones like shirts and mini dresses. While patterns are interesting enough, if one starts decorating them, it can be more fun and more satisfying too.

The manner in which you want to decorate a peg bag can depend on your likes and preferences. Some of us love to paint while others like to sew and stitch, some others may prefer knitting or embroidery. Regardless of what you like, all your creative skills can be used in decorating peg bags.

Knitted Peg Bag

If you are painter, you must focus more on square or rectangular peg bags. They provide wide canvas space for your painting. If you are someone who loves to stitch, then you can look at using more designer style bags. You can experiment with different patterns and make appealing additions to those patterns. For example, you could stitch pockets on your shirt shaped peg bag. If you have a frock, you can stick multi-colored flower shaped pieces.

Besides these simple decorating ideas, you can look at more exotic ones too. If you like knitting, you can knit interesting shapes and stitch them to the peg bags. Anything from a simple bow to small dolls are great decorating items on a peg bag. If you like embroidery, you can embroider interesting shapes or even messages on these bags.

Peg Bag Decoration

Of course, some may feel why put in all that effort into a bag that’s going to stay out in the sun. Well, these peg bags need not always be utility bags – for some people these can be collectibles and hobbies too. Besides, a well decorated peg bag can be sold to interested customers to earn extra incomes too!

Make Peg Bag using Towel

It is just amazing that these are probably the simplest sewing projects that any beginner can start with. The most elementary peg bags can be created by using a thick towel like a tea towel and a metal hanger. All you need to do is to fold the towel into three folds. The top one should be approximately half the middle one and the bottom part should be slightly longer than the top part. For example, you can use say top part 5”, middle 10” and bottom part around 5½” long.

Now you need to sew along the edges of the towel, leave a small gap on the top portion to slip the hook of the hanger. Once you have completed the sewing, just turn the whole bag inside out, so that the stitches go inside.  Now slide the hanger into the bag and take the hook out from the top. That’s it, your peg bag is ready for use!!!

Homemade Peg Bag

Functionally, the bag is ready, but creatively and artistically, this need not be the end. Many people love to add decorative patterns to the bags to reflect what they like, or their skills. If you have some great ideas for a peg bag, use this bag as your canvas and depict it there. After all it’s your peg bag and your creation, design it the way you like.

Some other innovative variations to the peg bags could be to use two pieces of cloth rather than one. With this, you can design the bag opening and make it more creative, like a laced circle, or a square rather than a plain slit.

Cute Peg Bag

Before the advent of the dryer machines, all of us have used clothesline to dry our clothes. Anyone who has used it knows the importance of pegs to hold the clothes from blowing away. And anyone who has used pegs knows the pains of trying to find one handy when you need one. Well peg bags are (as the name suggests) bags that hold pegs.

These peg bags are generally made of cloth, sometimes lined with padding. These are generally light and can hang on your clothesline very easily. All you need to do is get a good-sized bag and place it at an ideal location for easy and comfortable access to pegs and pins.

One important aspect that you must look at while purchasing a peg bag is its durability. In most cases, that will probably be the only thing hanging on your clothesline forever. It must be rugged enough to handle harsh weather conditions outside and still hold your pegs for you.

Clothespin Bag

Typical features one must look for in peg bags are its storage capacity and durability features. It must be able to drain water quickly after a rain, be rot and mold resistant, not get torn or blown easily, etc. In short it needs to hold lots of pins or pegs and at the same time withstand the outside weather in all seasons.

Lastly, an interesting thing about these bags is their appeal. It is amazing how many people go that extra mile just to get a great pattern on their peg bags. Many others design these bags in their home to incorporate a design that reflects their personality. So these bags are not just for utility, but also for creativity and expression or arts. In fact, the latter feature is probably the main reason why these peg bags are getting so popular.

Knitted Peg Bag

Here’s what you will need to make a knitted peg bag:

Materials

Chunky yarn, I used about 180g for this large bag
8mm needles
Tapestry needle
Coat hanger

Pattern

CO 24 sts.
Work in seed stitch/moss stitch
Row 1: *K1,P1* repeat til end of row
Row 2: *P1,K1* repeat til end of row

Continue until you have reached desired size. I stopped at about 25 inches.

Knitted Peg Bag (back view)

Work 6 sts, cast off 12 sts, work 6 sts.
Work 6 sts, put other 6 sts on a stitch holder.

Work 20 rows.
Make buttonhole on 21st row; K2, yfwd, K2tog, K2

Knit 4 rows garter stitch.
Cast off these 6 sts.

Return to sts on stitch holder and work 20 rows etc. (same as other side)

Making up

Sew on 2 large buttons and sew up seams, making sure you begin a little below the opening. Weave loose ends in.

This is a big peg bag which can easily hold 80 pegs !

source: craftster.org

Peg Bag (Handle Type)

Even in today’s world of electrical washer and dryer, clothesline drying is still in vogue and so are the pegs. As a result, the peg bags – bags holding the pegs – are in demand. While the original usage may not be that popular today, these are becoming collectibles items.

The sustained popularity of these peg bags has not gone unnoticed by the industry. There are quite a few companies that make ready-made peg bags for customers – who want these bags but do not want to spend time making at home. These peg bags are made of good quality material and may be treated to withstand outside exposure better.

Natural Calico Peg Bag

When you go looking out for a commercial peg bag, you are bound to run into the H & L Russel brand. They make varied models of these bags – the hanger model as well as the handle model. The Natural Calico Peg Bag is the hanger kind of bag, which is sufficiently large, durable and easy to maintain. The handle kind of bags is designed to be hung on the shoulder, rather than on the clothesline. These are made from durable cotton.

Besides the H & L Russel brand, the Rex Inter is another good brand. While H & L focus on simplicity, Rex Inter go for the bolder and more eye-catching patterns and colors. If there is one, you’ll not miss the red polka dot, hanger based peg bag from them. These are quite spacious too.

Red Polka Dot Peg Bag

If you can’t locate these peg bags in your local store, or are not keen on going all the way to store to get a peg bag, you can use the power of Internet to get these bags too. There are several online sites that sell these peg bags. Not only can you shop there, you can also choose shipping options to have it shipped the very next day right to your house.

Peg Bag Decoration

Over the years, peg bags have changed from mere bags used to hold pegs to medium of expressing ones likes and creativity. Today these bags come in many shapes and patterns and all these patterns are well decorated too. Many people prefer to make these at home, and for them decoration is an important aspect of the whole peg bag creation.

In case of homemade peg bags, the decoration is completely up to the creator – which is you. You can dictate the pattern and the decoration of the bag based on your skills. Some of us are good at painting, others at stitching and even at knitting and other such skills. All these skills can add great looking decoration to the bag.

Decorating Peg Bag

If you like to paint, you probably prefer as large an area as possible. The largest area is on a quadrilateral (four sided) bag. These bags are some of the simplest to design too. So you can make the peg bag real quick and spend more time painting it. If you are more of a stitch person, you can stick completely to cutting out patterns on multi-colored clothes and stitching them on the bag. You can experiment with a more innovative peg bag pattern too.

Knitted Peg Bag

Apart from these, if you are more into knitting, which may seem totally different from peg bags, you can put that skill to good use. Knit some real nice things and stitch them onto the bag. Depending on the theme you can knit varied things. You can also embroider similar things, if that is your forte.

Decorating a peg bag may seem futile for some – after all it is going to be out there, why bother with all that effort. Interestingly, peg bags are not just utility bags anymore. These are also collectibles and some people would rather have a great looking bag instead of a dull one even if it has to stay out. So if you can churn out great decorative bags, you could earn some bucks too.

Make Peg Bag using Towel

In fact, with a little bit of thought, you’d realize that these are some of the easiest things to create on your sewing machine. The basic peg bag can be made from a towel and a clothes hanger. Imagine a bag and try to fold the towel to look like one. You’ll have a short cover at the top and a larger bottom to hold pegs. So you need three folds – the best option is to have the center part nearly twice the size of the cover and the bottom part slightly longer than the cover.

You would get something similar to what you see in the adjacent figure. You need to fold along the horizontal dots and sew along the vertical dots. Now you have to slip in the hanger in the small slit (think black line) and you’ll have your home made peg bag.

Homemade Peg Bag

Of course, depending on the cloth you use for this bag, it may look great by itself, of just plain vanilla. To change that plain peg bag into something more appealing, you need to add a touch of your imagination and creativity. Think of the bag as a drawing board and fill it with what ever design you want.

If you do not prefer slit opening bag or a square one, you can make these peg bags with other techniques too. Stitching two separate pieces of cloth is common too. With this you can make different designs in terms of opening like circular or square. You can also design the bags in different shapes too.

Peg Bag

Peg bag is bag that can hold pegs. If you have dried clothes on a clothesline in a windy area, you can appreciate the use of pegs. However, pegs have this uncanny knack of going missing or being too far just when they are needed the most. The peg bag can save you of this pain by holding all the pins together within your reach.

Some common aspects of these peg bags are that they are typically made of cloth (eco friendly, if you are one!) and are extremely durable but light. They come with convenient hanging options too like regular clothes hanger or handles.

While choosing or making a peg bag, you must take care that they are really suited for their intended use. These peg bags typically will remain on the clothesline or relatively close to that, meaning that they will be exposed to outside climate always perennially. These bags need to be sturdy enough to withstand that exposure.

Handmade Peg Bag

In general, you would look for couple of important aspects in peg bags. The first one obviously is the capacity. What’s the use of a fancy bag that can’t hold even half your pegs! The second one, as discuss is its ability to handle external weather. This would include its ability to drain water, dry out quickly, and not smell, among others.

Of course, if you believe that you have more than one bag that satisfies the above-mentioned features, then you go for the next best aspect to decide on yours – the looks. Yes, if you have a bunch of good, durable peg bags, pick the one that you think looks the best or suits you the best. For many people, these bags may not be utility bags after all. With the washing and drying machines, clothesline drying is fast diminishing – for them these peg bags are more of a collectible.