I buy my cherry pits from The Cherry Pit Store in Michigan. They are shipped to me.
http://cherrypitstore.com/
I buy 40 lb bags, which are very heavy and awkward to carry. (If you live on a 6th floor walk up, you will want to buy a smaller size or find a strong friend to help.)
A 40 lbs bag of cherry pits yields approximately 18 of my regular cherry pit microwave bags (instructions in previous post) with about 8 cups of pits per bag.
Today, I am noting the sewing directions for making a longer, trifold version of a cherry pit bag.
Youngest’s trifold (below) is yellow with stars. She had to bring it home so we could weigh and measure it. I have made four of those, but never wrote down the instructions because I thought each was the last.
I made two more last month, as Christmas gifts, this time I documented carefully, so I can make these without Youngest helping.
We determined 25” x 9.5” was the right size.
One trifold cherry pit bag requires two pieces of 100% thick cotton flannel and two pieces of 100% cotton each cut at 25” x 9.5”.
Note - this is a basic sewing instruction, I include it for beginners. All stitching lines have to be locked so they do not pull apart/unravel. For straight stitching, back stitch at the beginning and end of each seam. When zigzagging, straight stitch and back stitch to lock, then zigzag over it. Cannot back stitch on a serger, so fold the serger thread tails under/down and straight stitch over them on the regular machine.
Note - In these instructions, the blue fish fabric is 100% cotton flannel (right side). The bird fabric is regular 100% cotton I had on hand, will be lining on the inside, will not show. (I used up all my muslin on cherry pit bags a few weeks ago. A sewing friend suggested I use up print cotton rather than buying muslin. I made several aprons from the bird print, still have a lot left. Also fabric store curbside order for muslin came back as out of stock. . .)
The first thing I did was pair each piece of flannel with a piece of cotton, wrong sides together, and press. The reason I did wrong sides together was to reduce the chance of the bird print showing through the flannel.
Using a very long basting stitch, I sewed the two pieces of fabric together, 1/8” from the edge.
Then I sewed two pairs together, on three sides, using a 2/8” seam allowance, with the right sides of the flannel against each other, and the cotton on the outside. I left one long edge open. I back stitched at the edges and the corners to reinforce them.
I ran all three sides through the serger. I did not turn the corners, I ran each side one at a time. I carefully folded the thread tails in, so the serger did not cut them. Then I restitched all three sides on the regular machine, sewing down the serger thread tails as I went.
Next, I turned the open edge under, toward the cotton/inside, and zigzagged it. I find it helpful to use the width of the zigzag foot as my guide when turning things under like this. I just turn as I go. I do not pin or press.
Then I flipped the whole thing right side out and measured the finished length. I divided that number by 3 and drew my lines with a pencil.
I stitched on the lines and on each side of the lines.
Then youngest weighed the star one, and did math. Each section gets 462g. Using the tar function to subtract the weight of the metal bowl, we used the bowl to hold the cherry pits while weighing, and then poured them directly in each section. (We did not use the plate, it just happens to be in this picture.)
This is the only time I use pins when sewing cherry pits. I use the pins to hold the cherry pits back, so I can sew the opening closed. I am careful to count how many pins I use and very careful to be sure I remove all of them. (A pin left in a cherry pit bag bill cause it to catch fire in the microwave.)
I stitched twice across the long open edge, back stitching frequently for added strength. You can also see my original zigzag line from when I turned the raw edge under.
I make at least two cherry pit bags at a time, so I can chain stitch from one to the other on the sewing machine as I go. Since they are identical fabric, I used both when documenting my steps (above). If I forgot to take a picture, I had a back up ready/available.
Bonus, I can make two in nearly the same time it takes to make one. Double bonus, I used up fabric I already had.
I only give one of these trifold bags as a gift. The two above were gifted to two different people. This is the note (below) I enclose with one of these trifold bags. I use this note because everyone I give the trifold bag to already has two of my regular (square) cherry pit bags.
