Ash, soot and dirt are always rubbing off my Dutch oven onto other things.

So my wife made me a machine washable Dutch oven bag to protect my Dutch oven and to keep the ash and soot from getting all over. (Thanks, it works great!)

All you need to make one is:

An old sturdy pillow case

My wife picked one up at a thrift store for $.50

A sew-on snap

The 3/4 in. size worked well (smaller ones aren't strong enough to hold)

A hand sewing needle & thread

Step 1: Make the Bag

Open the mouth of the pillow case and fold it over on itself, like folding over the cuff of a pair of pants.

Continue to fold it down over itself until the top of the pillow case is even with the bottom of the pillow case.

Pin the top and bottom of the pillow case together to form a bag. The sides of the bag are two ply, making it very sturdy.

Put the Dutch oven in the bag and fold the edges up and over until they touch to verify the bag is big enough.

Adjust the size as needed.

Sew the top and bottom of the pillow case together.

Step 2: Sew on the Snaps

Sew the snaps on by hand to the inside lip of the bag, right at the center on either side.

Put the Dutch oven back in the bag with the handle out and close the snaps. The bag should fit snuggly around the Dutch oven. If it's loose, move the snaps in a little more until it is snug.

All done.

Now it's time to have some raspberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.