So, every time I went to the beach, I took with me a bag with a towel and some things and went for a swim. One day I thought about how long I could carry these already boring bags with me and whether it was possible to replace them with something?!
Of course, you can buy a beach bag without any problems, but this option doesn’t suit me a little - I like things, “my things,” to be individual and unusual, in general, not like everyone else’s, but at the same time as fashionable and comfortable as possible!
Searching for a suitable option.
Being a curious person and a quick learner, I decided to sew a beach bag that could be used for summer trips to the river myself.The idea, of course, captivated me right away, but on the Internet I found a lot of offers that were impossible to refuse and I definitely wanted to sew a summer bag, believe it or not, from ordinary plastic bottles!
Having studied all the details, I stocked up on light-colored bottles; I would say that it is more advisable to choose “kopeck pieces” and larger-volume bottles. Large bottles are simply denser and easier to work with. We also select threads of the desired shade, I settled on a ball of black and brown threads, took ordinary, most inexpensive wool, and got to work. As you can see, we are gaining significantly in terms of costs, let's see what the result will be!
Preparation of bag components.
My bag consists of 10 elements fastened together. Of these, 4 elements are the front wall of the bag and the corresponding back wall (8 in total). I’ll tell you right away there is no bottom, it is obtained by folding the front and back walls of the bag sewn together. Also, the side parts are 2 elements and 3 for the handle, which can be of completely different lengths. The so-called “elements” are rectangles of various lengths and squares. So, having cut off all the excess from the bottle, we straighten the plastic sheet as much as possible and cut out the necessary parts from it.
Front and back walls.
2 rectangles with sides 10 by 22 cm, 2 rectangles with sides 10 by 21 cm, 1 rectangle with sides 10 by 22 cm and 2 squares with sides 11 by 11 cm.
Side parts.
2 rectangles with sides 10 by 20 cm.
Pens.
3 rectangles with sides 6 by 21 cm.
Please note that material from plastic bottles will not be very convenient to use for further finishing, so we slightly round the edges of all elements using ordinary scissors.
Next, we take a large “gypsy” needle and stitch each prepared element, imitating knitting crochet according to the “crawfish step” principle. First I sewed it with black thread, then on top of it I sewed another row with brown threads, in my opinion it turned out attractive. After sewing each detail, all elements of the bag will become less angular and a little more attractive!
For convenience, many people first make holes in the plastic with a hole punch, then do the sheathing, but for me, I’ll say right away, nothing worked, since the plastic is constantly moving and the holes are uneven, which, in principle, you will see in the photo of the bag on one of the elements.
Connecting the main components of the bag.
When all the elements are sheathed, we begin to connect them. The parts are simply fastened together with the same “crawfish step”. We start with the front and back walls, this will be a single canvas, which we will then fold in the middle. After folding, the product will be slightly “angular”, but when the bag is sewn to the end, this detail will disappear.
In general, the canvas should look like in the photo, connecting elements of the appropriate sizes. We fold it in half, accurately determine the middle and alternately sew the side parts along the edges (sides), forming the inner area of the bag. You need to sew the sides starting from the bottom, exactly from the middle, moving away from both sides to the top.
After connecting all the main parts, your product will look like in the photo.
From the inside.
Sew the handle
The parts of the handle, and we have three of them, are connected one by one in the photo.
We sew each edge to the main part of the summer, beach bag. In principle, our bag is ready!
Bag lining
The appearance, as you can see, seems a little rustic, so I additionally decided to sew a “lining”.I took the measurements from the main fabric and sewed a bag like this, additionally sewing a pocket on it.
The upper part of the lining was trimmed with trim, which gave it a marketable appearance!
Turn the lining inside out and sew it inside the bag.
The same material as used for the lining is sewn to the handle elements.
Shutdown
A beach, summer bag does not close, so when filled it will bulge slightly. To eliminate this drawback, we sew on a loop and a large button.
Let's head to the beach with a new, stylish beach bag.
Using this example of making a bag, you can take yarn and bottles of various shades, which will allow you to get a completely different, but no less original product. In addition, instead of a button, you can sew in a ribbon or zipper. To my surprise, the summer beach bag turned out to be not only roomy, but also comfortable. Despite the fact that the size of the bag is small, it can withstand quite a decent weight!
