{Beach Bag Tutorial}

Hi friends! I have a super fun summer project to share with you today! With summer approaching quickly I knew we needed a beach bag, but I'm super cheap and can't find one I like to fit my tiny budget so...diy time! 

I wanted to make a bag out of a towel so I did a little Googling and what do you know, our good friend Martha Stewart had a great towel beach bag! However, I found the directions majorly lacked details so if you are a visual person like me I hope you'll appreciate a few more pictures, descriptions and easy tweeks! Here we go!

Supplies:

1 bath towel

1 hand towel in the same color {Target $3.49 for a 2-pack...at the bottom of this post I'll show you what I made with the extra towel!}

webbing, twill, tape, ribbon, or fabric to make your handles, each cut to 25"

2 buttons (optional)

basic sewing supplies

I chose to make my own handles out of fabric as opposed to using webbing, but you can do whatever you want! Just make sure you have 2 25" lengths of whatever you chose to use.

 Pin your handles to the long side of your hand-towel 7.5 inches in from each side. You are also pinning them 3" down from the top. Make sure not to twist the handle. It should look like a "U".  Also make sure you pin the handle to the "right side" of the towel. I left the tags on the towels so it would be easy for me to tell which side was which. 

Stitch each side of the handle down in a rectangle to reinforce the straps and make sure they are nice and strong. It will look like this...

 Now you are going to lay your hand towel on top of the short side of your bath towel and mark where you need to put the other handle. Martha's directions tell you to get a hand towel that is the same width as your bath towel. Mine was like an inch and a half shorter, but I made it work. Center your hand towel onto your bath towel (if they aren't the same length) and pin as a marker where you need your other handle to go.

 All pinned and ready to stitch down the same way you stitched the other handle. In a rectangle to reinforce the straps.

 Ok, now the straps are attached so lay them right sides together matching the handles and the top edges. See how my hand towel is a little shorter? Irritating, but it really doesn't matter too much. If I was super fancy and had a serger, I would have trimmed the bath towel to the length of the hand towel and serged the raw edge, but I'm not fancy.

 Once everything is lined up, pin the bottom edge of the hand towel to the bath towel.

 Stitch down with a 3/8" allowance. *Note: I used my walking foot because terry cloth is cushy. Worked well, but if you don't have a walking foot, just use lots of pins and go slow.

 Now you are going to pin the sides and stitch them down also using a 3/8 allowance.

All stitched!!! This is how you lay on it at the beach. You can put your cover up or something in the pocket as a pillow. Awesome but here is the fun part...flip the bag part inside out...

 See how the towel is hanging out? Roll it up and tuck it inside. It will look like this...

 Love it! Except for those little flappies that the excess bath towel made, but never fear...buttons to the rescue!

I just hand sewed a button to each flap and it's holding it down and out of the way just fine. 

Want to see what I made with the extra towel???

A fun little pouch to hold my wallet, phone, sunscreen and anything else on the small side that I don't want floating around in the big bag!

I hope this tutorial makes sense! It's really not hard at all and you end up with a really good sized bag to take with you to the beach! I can't wait for summer!!!

Check out Martha's bag which was my inspiration and guidelines for this bag.

Martha's Beach-Towel Tote Bag

{TOM’s flag tote}…a tutorial

Hey there! It’s been a looooooonnnnnggg time since I posted a tutorial on this little blog of mine, but fear not! I have a really fun one for you today!

Unless you have been living under a rock…you know about TOM’s. They are are pretty much the most comfy shoes EVER. A little pricey yes, but for every pair you by, a pair is donated to a child in need. One for one and that’s pretty awesome.

Tucked inside the box with your new shoes comes a little flag. Between the three of us we have 5 pairs of TOM’s so that’s a lot of flags to play with. I knew I wanted to repurpose them I was just waiting for inspiration to strike.

Hang on to your hats friends…I give to you the TOM’s flag tote bag TUTORIAL.

Materials:

TOM’s flag, various fabrics (I like to mix and match & used 3 different prints), fusible fleece, fusible interfacing, and your basic sewing supplies.

You can make any sized tote you want. I made mine 16x16 with a boxed bottom. If that sounds good to you, follow the tute as written or you can make your own adjustments along the way depending on the size of bag you decide on. You also don’t HAVE to use the flag. This is a very simple box tote that is really versatile. Add whatever trim and accents you want! Make it unique to you!

Cut List:

1. Cut an outer piece that is 16x16.

2. Cut 2 lining pieces that are 16x16.

3. Cut 2 pieces of fusible fleece 16x16.

4. Cut 2 strap pieces 4x22.

5. Cut 2 pocket pieces 4x6.25

6. Cut 2 pieces of interfacing 4x22

7. extra outer strips…you’ll need to figure out your measurements after you trim your flag. Sorry, I know that’s a little vague, but bare with me!

 

Directions:

First we’re going to prep all of our pieces. Trim off the little grommets on the flag. Next you need to cut your framing strips that will be sewn to your flag in order to make the front panel 16x16. Everyone will have different measurements here because I doubt all the flags are exactly the same size, but you want two strips for the short side and two for the long side…we’re kind of making a quilt block.

Sew your short strips to each short side RST with 1/4” SA. Once you get those on and the whole piece measures 16” wide, you’ll know how big to cut your top and bottom strips. Make sense? I really hope so!

Press your seams open.

Once you get your strips sewn on it should look like this and measure 16x16”.

Adhere your fusible fleece to the outer pieces according to the manufacturers directions.

Iron your interfacing to your strap pieces.

Sew your pocket pieces RST with a 1/4” SA making sure to leave a 3” or so opening in one side for turning.

Clip the corners of your pocket, turn inside out, press, and topstitch the top closing the opening.

Take your strap with the interfacing and press in the edges 1/4” on each side. Then press in half. Do this for both straps.

Topstitch each strap down both sides.

Topstitch pocket to lining piece.

Now that all your pieces are prepped, you get to sew your tote! Pin three sides leaving top open and making sure your flag is facing the right direction. Sew your outer pieces RST with a 3/8” SA. If you have a walking foot, now would be a great time to attach it. It makes sewing on the fleece a lot easier.

Sew your lining pieces together the same way.

I like to box the bottom of my totes. This is optional. If you want you can skip this part. Cut a 2” square out of each corner on your lining and outer pieces.

Open up the square and pin it like this. Sew each corner with a 3/8” SA making sure to backstitch. 

Turn the bag right side out. Pin and baste your straps to outside of your bag. I like mine about 3.5” in from the side seam. Make sure your straps are straight with no twists in them! They should look just like this. Make sure they line up on each side. Straps can be tricky, but you got this!

Stitch the straps to the bag with a 1/4” SA.

Place the outer bag inside the lining pieces making sure the edges and side seams line up. Leave a 3-4” opening along a side seam for turning. 

Sew the pieces together with a 3/8” SA.

Turn the bag out and tuck the lining down inside.

Press the bag all around the top so that the edge is nice and neat. Pin the opening closed and topstitch around the whole bag.

You are done friend!!! Stand back and admire your new super cute new TOM’s flag tote!

Guess what…there’s more!!! The bag you just made is REVSIBLE! Yep that’s right! Two bags in one! You’re welcome :)

I hope you enjoy this tutorial! It would make my day if you pinned it and made one and shared some pics with me!

NOTE: Please remember as with all my tutorials, this is for personal use only. Please do not sell any bags you make from this tutorial.

Have a happy day!!

Elizabeth

A sneak peek at what’s coming to the shop!

I’ve been hard at work coming up with new ideas for the shop! Fabulous new items for home, for baby, and lot’s of things “for fun!”. Here is a sneak peek at some of the things I have been working on for the “for fun!” section…

As you can see, my “Shabby Blossom” is showing up a lot! Here is a closer look at each item.

The “Shabby Blossom” will feature a fabric covered button and attached to the back is an alligator clip as well as a pin back so it can be worn in your hair or on your favorite shirt, sweater, bag, etc…

The pleated zipper pouch to hold all those essentials that get lost in the bottom of your bag! How cute are those owls?!?!

Here is a pleated pouch with a shabby blossom that I made for a friend who is graduating from college.

And last but not least, here are a few bags I embellished with raw edge appliqué , ruffles, and more Shabby Blossoms!

Thanks to the girls at Saving Money and Living Life, Tea Rose Home, Tatertots and Jello, Sugar & Spice, Blue Cricket Design, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Sew Much Ado, and Fingerprints on the fridge for letting me link up!