How to Open Stitched Bags - Viewer Tips!

#openstitchedbags #openfeedbags #chainstitchedgrainbagsShow more

Products that are packaged in stitched bags can be a real hassle - until you know the trick to getting them open - without resorting to slashing the bag open with a utility knife!

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A wide variety of products come in stitched top bags, including rice, birdseed, grains, livestock feed, and bulk flour. How to open them is complicated by the fact that there is more than one stitch pattern, some come with reinforcement tape, while other products have stitching directly through the bag material with no tape.

After broadcasting our first episode on this topic, many commented it solved their problem and that they could now open stitched bags on their first try. Others wrote in to say that the method didn’t work for them, that the stitch looked different than the one we used, or that there was no tape to use as a reference to figure out what direction to start undoing the stitch from. So much for absolutes!

For instance, DFJ Subscriber “Good Egg” said, “for some reason, this didn't work on a Swagat Sona Massoori 20 lb Rice bag. Not sure if it's an operator error or not.” Another viewer, E DR, stated, “Didn't work on my rice bag from Thailand, either. The string zips from left to right, unlike in Dirt Farmer Jay's video…”

Viewer Cindy Wyatt continued with, “these (the type with a paper tape backer) I can deal with! It is the ones WITHOUT the tape that give me a fit. I hope you made a vid for that kind too. The ones that have feed and seed in them. Thanks!”

With the dose of reality from our viewers for situations where what we showed in the first episode did not work for them, this second episode will help. We are sure there are exceptions, but we are confident that what we show you in this episode will address many more types of bags.

NO TTER THE TYPE OF STITCH YOU ARE DEALG WITH, you know that it was stitched together using intertwining loops, so there has to be a way to reverse the stitch. It’s that simple. What isn’t so simple is figuring out how to reverse the stitch. But, a great starting point for “flat-type” stitches is to figure out which is the “front” and “back” side. That may or may not align with the front and back of the package!

So that we are all using the same terminology, The “front” has only one stitch, and the “back” has multiple interwoven stitches.

With those definitions in mind, here’s a great tip from DFJ Subscriber Jonathan Pendley: “Another way to orientate your way to the bag is to straddle the bag with the single (“front”) string to your right and pick the single string (furthest from you) to unzip the bag (back towards you).”

Viewer C N asked, “What about bags without pull tape? Such as Pennington® birdseed?”

These are like the bags of rice that are packaged in Asian and South Asian countries. The stitch may actually begin before the bag, stitch into the bag material, and continue past the other side. The “braid” on both edges of the bag is typically tubular in shape instead of flat.

No matter. The same approach Jonathan Pendley recommends still works. Situate the bag so that when your stand over it with a leg to each side of the bag, the single stitch is on your right. Then, beginning on the end furthest from you, pick apart the end until you have two opposing strings sticking out. Tug the string ends apart from each other, and the stitch will “un-zip.”

Here’s one more tip for this type of “tubular” stitch. On the stitch side that has multiple strings, you’ll see that the chain stitch forms a series of little triangles that look somewhat like arrowheads. The wide end of the arrowheads indicates what end of the stitch to start “unzipping” from.

Here’s a bonus tip supplied by DFJ Viewer Family Member jdizzle6911, who said, “Another trick is to undo it halfway and then put the string through one of the loops to make it stay half sealed and half-open to pour the contents out without a big mess.” Ingenious, jdizzle6911!

There you have it. Yet another skill that you have and helps you to “Just Do It Yourself!”

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