IKEA Pillowcase Hack A Linen Alternative Bread Bag

Sometimes I buy things not knowing what project it’s going to be but just knowing deep down it’ll be good. Like today’s post. This beautiful blue pillowcase from IKEA caught my eye 1) the color 2) the yellow $7 tag 3) I was convinced this was linen.

I was running to check out thinking I scored the jackpot on essentially a 20×40 piece of linen for $7! And then I read 100% ‘ramie’. What the heck is that?

Ramie is the perfect linen substitute. It has the same properties as linen and then some! It’s naturally bacteria and mold resistant which makes it the perfect material for a bread bag. Rachael Arnold of Raven Fea has me convinced of its magic.

And if your house/apartment is a carb loving one like mine, you need a bread bag. Linen and ramie keep your bread fresher longer and maintains that nice crunchy crust.

You’ll Need
ramie/linen pillowcase (I used this guy)
fusing tape and/or sewing supplies
fabric cord

By starting out with a pillowcase, most of the sewing is already taken care of! Just a few snips, folds, and threading the cord, and you have your own bread bag.

Step 1
Measure out your bag size. I wanted to make sure round and baguette loaves would both fit so I just laid my loaves on top, but here are some standard bread sizes:
Baguettes 11×17
Boules (round loaves) 12×12
Sandwich loaves 15×12

Step 2
Cut off the extra fabric from the zipper side. Taking a seam ripper, let out cut either side to be folded over for the string casing.

Step 3
Iron ~.25″ of the top of the pillowcase down, folding from the outside/good side in to the interior/bad side. Iron and fold again for ~1″ (this is the clearance for the string) so the raw edge is enclosed in the double fold. Kinda like the Mother’s Day tea towel wrap. Apply thin strips of hem tape to the new lip and iron according to the instructions.

If you prefer sewing, go ahead and topstitch this down. So far the fusing tape has held up for me in the wash, but I made extra sure to follow the instructions!

Step 4
Thread your fabric string through! You can make your own using the cast off pillowcase extras and sewing down the raw edges. I just used the white fabric ribbon that came off a BHLDN bag ;).

When picking a cord, make sure to use a fabric based string. You need to be able to draw the bag tightly shut to keep your bread fresh.