DIY Reusable Sandwich Wrap Tutorial
If you're looking for a quick, eco friendly gift that's sure to impress, these reusable sandwich wraps are perfect! You can, ahem, wrap up this project from start to finish in about an hour, and whether you're making a gift for a loved one or for yourself, you'll have something lovely and useful for your next picnic or packed lunch.
We're happy to welcome back guest contributor Kelsey Williams of Lovely and Enough! Kelsey's last tutorial was a lunch bag made using the Suzy Quilts pattern Kris Kross, and now she's bringing us a tutorial for making reusable fabric sandwich wraps. This versatile and adjustable wrap isn't just for sandwiches—pack your picnic basket with bagels, veggie wraps, pizza, and more!
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Kelsey is a chemist by day, and quilter by night who has a passion for experimenting with minimalist designs that enhance the modern home. Her quilt experiments include screen printing on finished quilts, cutting up her quilts to make smaller wall installations, and surface design.
An avid screen printer, Kelsey released her first line of licensed fabric in 2019, which she used for this tutorial. Keep reading to learn how to make your own quick and easy reusable sandwich wrap!
The first time I made one of these reusable sandwich wraps, I knew I would be making many more. They are so quick and easy to whip up, a great use of a fat quarter, and the perfect mix of chic and eco-friendly. Not to mention, a reusable sandwich wrap is the perfect last-minute handmade gift for your eco-conscious friend, your child’s teacher, your Mom, your neighbor—pretty much anyone who packs lunches.
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Supplies for the Reusable Sandwich Wrap
- Fabric - cotton, fat quarter
- Lining - ripstop nylon, fat quarter
- Thread - cotton or polyester
- Sew-on velcro - about 5”
- Binding clips
Fabric Used in the Reusable Sandwich Wraps Pictured in This Tutorial
- A fun, modern garlic fabric I designed (available in my Spoonflower shop)
- White ripstop nylon from my local craft store
Step 1: Cut Your Fabric
Cut your quilting cotton to 15” x 15” and your ripstop nylon to 12 3/4” x 12 3/4”. The cotton will be the shell of your reusable sandwich wrap, and the ripstop nylon will be the lining.
Step 2: Fold and Press Edges of Cotton Shell
Fold and press each edge of the cotton 1/2” in. Then fold and press each edge again at 1/2”. This forms a hem-like finish around the edge of your reusable sandwich wrap. Don’t worry about the corners folding perfectly because we will be mitering the corners in the next step.
Step 3: Miter the Corners of the Cotton Shell
In this step, we will give the cotton corners a nice professional finish by mitering the corners. If you have made cloth napkins using the SQ tutorial, then you are already familiar with mitering corners. Simply, unfold your corner and trim diagonally across the corner to the tip to the first 1/2” crease.
You can use a ruler, mark it with a pen, and cut with a rotary cutter here if you’re nervous about getting it right,. But once you’ve gotten the hang of it, it’s also pretty easy to quickly snip off these corners using a pair of scissors.
Now, fold over the corner to the second 1/2” crease and press with an iron. In the cloth napkin tutorial, we glue basted this corner. But for these reusable sandwich wraps, skip the glue basting because we want our ripstop nylon lining to be able to slide under this folded corner.
Next, refold your hemmed edge and match up your neat little corners. This step is forgiving, so just slide around your folded edges until the corners meet and then clip the corner with a binding clip to hold it in place. Again, skip the glue basting here.
Step 4: Fit Ripstop Lining Into Cotton Shell
Slip your ripstop nylon lining under your folded cotton edges so that it lies flat and the corner of the lining is hidden under the folded cotton corner. You may have to trim down your ripstop a little to make it fit. Then use binding clips to clip the lining in place.
Step 5: Sew Around the Cotton Edge
Now it's time to sew our one and only seam to attach the lining to the shell. Using cotton or polyester thread, stitch around your folded cotton edge, 1/8” from the inner folded edge. Reverse at the start and stop of this seam and trim thread tails close to the fabric.
Step 6: Attach Velcro
The goal of this fantastic last-minute handmade gift is to make a reusable sandwich wrap that is flexible to be used with all manner of sandwiches and lunches. That means we need our velcro to allow flexibility for mini sandwiches and massive sandwiches alike. For this reason, we are going to cut the hook side of our wrap just a bit longer than the loop side.
Cut about 4” of the hook side of your velcro (the scratchier side), and cut about 5” of the loop side of your velcro (the softer side). Pro tip: I recommend not using adhesive-backed velcro, even though it may seem easier.
We need to stitch down this velcro, so that the sandwich wrap can be machine washable, and unfortunately, adhesive-backed velcro can make your needle gummy and hinder your sewing machine from catching your bobbin thread correctly. I am all for easy hacks, but in this instance, it’s best to avoid the adhesive-backed velcro.
Fold your sandwich wrap in half from corner to corner and give it a little press with the lining to the inside. Remember to have your iron on the nylon setting at this point. You will use this crease to align the velcro.
We are going to put the loop side of the velcro on the outside of the sandwich wrap so that this soft velcro is less likely to get sticky jelly or gooey sauces on it. Center the 5” piece of loop-side velcro along the crease on the cotton shell side with the short end of the velcro lined up into the corner.
If you want to be extra fancy, trim the corner of your velcro to match the corner of your cotton shell. Stitch around the velcro to secure.
Next, center the 4” piece of hook-side velcro along the crease on the ripstop nylon lining side. Line up the short end of the velcro to the corner opposite of where the loop-side velcro is secured. Again, you have the option here of trimming the corner of your velcro to a point to match the corner.
I like going the extra mile here because it keeps the point of your reusable sandwich wrap secure when wrapped around your sandwich. Note: In the photos, I used a 2” piece of hook-side velcro, but I think a bit longer velcro gives you more flexibility in the size sandwiches you can wrap.
Step 7: Wrap Up Your Sandwich and Have a Picnic
You are now ready to picnic in style. Why not pile your kids or your best friends into the car with a basketful of perfectly wrapped lunches? This reusable sandwich wrap is ideal for any adventure and can simply be popped in the wash at the end of the day. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
How perfect would it be to make someone a coordinated lunch set with a quilted lunch bag, reusable sandwich wrap, and cloth napkin! Talk about a chic, eco-friendly lunch trifecta.
What's your favorite food to pack for a picnic? And are there other handmade picnic or packed lunch supplies you'd like to see as a future tutorial? Let us know in the comments!
Loved this tutorial! Where did you buy that hook & loop tape? It looks different than any I’ve seen!
I came to ask the same question! It looks really interesting, and possibly more sturdy than regular hook & loop tape. I’m interested in trying a couple of projects with it if I can find some! 🙂
Just wanted to ask if the ripstop nylon recommended in this post is food safe? Often ripstop nylon is coated with waterproofing material and the coating can come off with use. Thanks so much for the tutorial!
This is a great question. There are currently no fabrics that are certified as food-safe. This doesn’t mean that no fabrics are safe around foods but that the FDA has not published recommendations as of yet.
You are correct that some ripstop nylon is coated with a waterproofing material, and if you have coated ripstop nylon and are concerned, I would suggest facing the coated side away from the food. Luckily, the ripstop nylon that Joann sells is uncoated and, thus, will not leave a residue on your food.
Hi Kayla! This hook & loop tape is Velcro’s “Sleek & Thin”. I found it at Joann’s in their pre-packaged section, and I see it on amazon as well. Hope this helps 🙂 Let me know how it works for your other projects!
Hi Susie, Thank you! This hook & loop tape is from Joann. I found it in their pre-packaged section. It seemed perfect for a sandwich wrap because the hook side is not as scratchy.
Any suggestions on washing the reusable sandwich wrap?
Hi Jo, great question! This sandwich wrap is machine washable. You can wash on cold and then hang dry or tumble dry on the lowest setting. For trickier stains, you can pretreat with a stain remover for ~24h before throwing the wrap in the wash. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.
Does this lining keep the bread fresh and soft like Saran Wrap, for example, or do you wrap the sandwich first in other wrap and then put it into the nylon-lined wrap? Seems like the nylon wrapping would get stained by catsup and mustard or other spreads after a while unless it was protected in some way.
Great question, and I tested this! Ripstop nylon blocks moisture from leaving the food, so it should keep bread and other food items from going stale without needing an additional plastic-film wrap.
In terms of stains, as the nylon fibers themselves repel moisture, liquid stains such as catsup and mustard will generally be repelled. Plus, ripstop nylon is machine washable (pretreat with a stain remover for ~24h if needed), so you can throw your sandwich wraps in the wash to freshen them up and remove food debris.
Such an awesome tutorial – I will be making these as gifts, for sure! 🙂 Thank you!
Is it microwaveable-with pizza for example.
Hi Pat, Great question. I would not microwave the sandwich wrap, as the ripstop nylon may melt and/or burn. Hope this helps.
There is food safe fabric wrap available (foodsafe pul) and there’s no need for seams so nothing for gooey contents to seep into. I prefer a tie wrap to velcro because again nothing for food to get caught up in.
https://www.cuddleplushfabrics.co.uk/l/waterproof-fabrics/foodsafe-pul/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrLyzg-zO-wIVDeztCh1Z3A1HEAAYASAAEgIeY_D_BwE
I can’t find the fabric you linked to. Amazon says it’s not available. Can you tell me what else is available that is comparable to your original suggestion? I really would like to make these!!
Thank you!
Hi Fran! Here’s another one you can try: https://hartsfabric.com/nylon-ripstop34308.html.html. Also, if you search “nylon ripstop fabric,” you can find other options in additional colors. Happy sewing!