In her 2016 classroom workshops for The Studio at Mayeda, retired teacher Judy Toupin taught the middle-school students how to sew their own cloth “Magic Bags,” in order to reduce the use of plastic bags.
In 2020, we received a special email request from Kamilla, now a senior in high school, asking if Ms. Toupin might be able to share the instructions again.
“I was wondering if you knew how Ms. Toupin made her magic bags. I still have mine from when I was sewing with her in eighth grade, and I would love to make more so I can use them when I go off to college next year, along with giving them as gifts. If you know how to make them or if Ms. Toupin herself can make a tutorial video/ has steps written down somewhere, it would would be really nice and generous if I could relearn how to make these magic bags again.
If Ms. Toupin doesn’t remember my name then maybe she might remember that I always forgot to put the presser-foot down but never actually broke anything 😂🤦🏻♀️
Ms. Toupin responded, “Sewing w/ the middle schoolers was a blast! It blows me away that Kamilla still has/ uses her bag. I remember using wax paper to wrap sandwiches & wax paper bags for other items. Then plastic wrap came out , then the fold top baggies & then ziplocks. We’ve come full circle.”