While other bags on this list are made partially out of sustainable materials, this Kokolu tote is made of 100 percent recycled post-consumer plastic bottles. Often equipped with carrying systems for trail poles and attachments for easy access hydration bottles. Unless you're planning on just using your iPad in one location, a protective carrying bag is a wise investment. Still crafted in Maine, one tote at a time. Hate to break it to you, but you do still have to sort your laundry by color. But despite what model works best for you, most sewing machines are built around one basic idea: the loop stitching system. It's a tedious, but not too taxing task, and most of us long to skip it and just throw all of our laundry into the washer in one big pile -- shirts, underwear, towels, socks, jeans, sheets, everything. The main items that should be washed separately are jeans, towels and sheets -- not so hard, right? Promotional tote bags are product of recycled material. Another important feature of the machine-washable ChicoBag is it uses 100 percent recycled packaging, which translates to a 100 percent offset of carbon emissions from making the bag.

Interestingly, I never have to yell at @erinliss for buying yet another purse, but I (justifiably) get scolded for yet another laptop bag. It's a good idea to sort by weight so thinner fabrics don't get damaged by heavier ones, and so that everything in the load has about the same drying time. We find Noonsite to be a good up-to-date ressource for country-specific information on fees, customs or quarantine procedures. Vergano, Dan. "Nobels Recognize Information Age Pioneers; Physics, Chemistry Prizes Presented for Revolutionary Devices." USA Today. But alas, you won't get that advice from us today. To really get out in the snow and have an adventure, see our instructions for Arctic Snow Goggles on the next page. In this way, the needle runs the thread in and out of the fabric pieces, binding them together. Then it would have to pull the entire length of loose thread through the fabric, turn the needle around and do the whole thing in reverse. Speaking of mesh bags, here's an absolutely ingenious idea: Put mesh laundry bags into your hampers and throw the whole shebang into the washer. Adding to the mystery is that dry cleaning operations are secret, hidden behind a curtain of plastic garment bags, where magical machines perform some bizarre process that cleans our clothes without getting them wet.

But, more often than not, small backpacks are considered personal items alongside purses, laptop bags, and briefcases. One big lesson: Building permits and codes are really no problem, especially if you plan to live in your home for the foreseeable future. Legally, manufacturers are required to notify consumers of just one method of cleaning clothes, and dry cleaning is always a safe bet. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has strict regulations for what can be called organic food, there's no similar organization that polices the dry cleaning industry. It is not especially sturdy, however, since the entire seam can come undone if one end of the thread ends up loosened. You might replace single-purpose furniture with multi-taskers -- an end table with a trunk, for instance, or a table-lamp-magazine rack combination. You might want to put your clues in some sort of casing to protect them from the elements, too. If you've ever wondered what actually goes on in the back of a dry cleaner's, or even what "dry" cleaning actually means, read on for 10 things your dry cleaner doesn't want you to know. To sew a chain stitch, the sewing machine loops a single length of thread back on itself.

This continuous evolution has made sewing machines more efficient, user-friendly, and capable of producing intricate and professional-quality stitches. As technology advanced, computerized sewing machines emerged, offering programmable stitch patterns and automated features. Most sewing machines use a sturdier stitch known as the lock stitch. Like the automobile, the cotton gin and countless other innovations from the past 300 years, the sewing machine takes something time-consuming and laborious, like turning raw seam edges into tidy hems, and makes it fast and easy. Though dry cleaners do often use water for water-based stains like tomato soup and coffee, the most common practice is to drop clothes into a bath of perchloroethylene, or "perc," a colorless solvent that has the power to dissolve the stains that water can't, like gravy and tar. This tip is especially useful if you have older kids: Put a "whites" and "colors" hamper into each kid's room, have them toss them into the machine when the bags are full, then return the bags when it's all clean and dry -- for them to fold!