KEEP YOUR DIP COLD + ICE PACK BAG

My friend Fran was serving a guacamole dip with chips recently at a gathering.  She wanted to share with us her idea for keeping the bowl and dip cold.  She had placed a frozen Blue Ice bag and had scrunched a kitchen towel over and around it.  Then she had the bowl with the dip sitting on top of the towel.

She then had the chips in a bowl next to it.  I suggested pushing down the towel as best as possible and then laying the chips on top to hide the towel.  

When we finished playing cards a couple of hours later, the dish was still cold and the dip looked fresh.

I had taken pictures that day so that I could share her clever idea here on my blog, but I got to thinking about it and decided she needed a little bag to put the ice pack in instead of using a towel.  This way it would give her more room in the dish for the chips and it would look better, too.  That's when I came up with the idea to make her a little ice pack bag from a dish towel.


I asked Fran for the size of the bag so I could decide what size to make the bag.  She told me the bag was 6-1/2 inches square but to allow for the thickness of the bag (which she didn't tell me, btw).  I decided to make the bag  8-inches finished. 

I had this really cute dish towel with the penguin.  I thought that was the perfect design since it was going to a cold pack bag.

I folded the towel so that it measured 8 inches from the fold line to the bottom of the towel.  Then I measured 2 - 3/4 inches longer on the back piece and cut the towel off there.  This was to allow for a  1/2-inch hem to be made and leaving a 2-inch flap.

Since the bag was going to be an 8-inch square, I would be cutting the bag 9 inches wide to allow for a half-inch seam on each side.  Centering the penguin, I cut 4-1/2 inches from this center on each side.

Refolding so that the right sides of the towel are facing and the folded down side still measures 8 inches,  I sewed the side seams with a half-inch seam, back stitching at beginning and end of the seam.  (The blue painter's tape is marking the 1/2-inch seam since I don't have a "foot" for my sewing machine that indicates a 1/2-inch wide.)

On the flap, I pressed from the side seams to the end a half inch, the width of the seam.  Turning under about half way, I sewed a narrow hem.  

Then I pressed the end of the flap back 3/4-inch toward wrong side of towel.  I turned under a fourth of an inch, pinned it down, and then sewed a 1/2-inch hem.

The finished flap from the inside.

I cut diagonally across the corners at the bottom fold to reduce bulk when turned.

After turning it right side out, the cute little ice-pack bag was finished.

The next time we were getting together, Fran decided to bring dip and chips again just so she could use the ice-pack bag.

It was a perfect fit.

Here is the bag with the ice pack inside and flap closed to keep the cold in.

Setting it up.....she placed the bag in first and then laid the chips around the sides.

I took the picture before Fran had completely arranged the chips around the dish, but she covered the ice pack/bag so that it wasn't visible.

It worked like a charm.  The bowl and dip stayed cold but the chips didn't get soggy.

REMINDER:  Make sure when you place the ice pack in the freezer, that you lay it flat so that is will be flat when it freezes.