Caroline,
As soon as I get our disaster organized from unloading the Pathfinder last night I'll take pics of all my new acquisitions. Especially the purty blue clone. It doesn't have a light though, so I'll have to scare one up.
The size of the squares makes no difference. I just had a 3.5" plastic template and used that. The bags are pretty much the same size as the old paper grocery bags. Mater of fact my wife tests my Whacky Bags by taking them shopping and filling them with canned goods. So far so good.
The Whacky bag consists of 83 pieces. 80 3.5" squares, the inner bag, and two handles. Here's a pic:
I do my handles a bit different now, I start out with a 4" wide strip 28" long. Then fold it in thirds lengthwise. It makes three layers and is good and strong that way. I run a 1/4" SS seam down each side, then I take the over-edge foot on the 500 or 401 and run a tight ZZ stitch down both edges. My wife could do it in about 30 seconds with her serger, but I enjoy plucking along with the 500.
The way I double fold them at the ends when I sew the top of the bag I loose about 5" in length. The handles actually come out close to 23". Just about right for the plastic bag handle racks they use at WalMart.
Joe