Have you been shopping around for the perfect bag to throw all your goodies in at the beach and just haven’t spotted one that you love? Look no further this DIY is the one for you! Here at Mood we have an abundance of fabric to choose from to create your own, one of a kind beach bag, like mine! Oh and did I mention it is reversible?!
Yes! That’s right, reversible! Now you can “Wow” your friends with a bag with two different looks. Let’s get started. First go to Mood’s website and pick out two fabrics that you love. The type of fabric I used was a stretch cotton sateen. It is a heavy enough fabric to create a bag that will be durable for your belongings but not to heavy weighing down your shoulder. This fabric has a good amount of give in the weft direction but does not have a stretch that makes it, pucker, roll or difficult to sew. For one of the side of my bag, I chose a fun, bright, floral print that shouts ” look at me”! This sateen is mixture of cool blues and greens with a touch of yellow and black, on a white background. For the reverse side of the bag, I used a vibrant yellow cotton sateen. By doing this, it really pops the yellow out of the floral print and compliments the bag.
Here are some other cool suggestions for your reversible bag:
To create straps like mine I cut one and a half yards (56 inches) of the rope and both chains. Then fold and cut them in half so you have two pieces of rope that are 28″ long as well as the chains. Take on piece of 28″ long rope and put one chain on the left of the rope and the other chain to the right and tack it by hand stitching, to keep the chains in place on the rope. Once you have done this you can twist the chains around the rope and tack it at the other end to hold the chains at the end as well, this way your twist will not unravel. Repeat this process to the other piece of rope and chains you have left for the second strap. I left a little bit of rope on each side of the strap, longer than the chains so you will be able to sew the rope into the bag and not ruin your sewing machine by sewing over metal.
Now that your straps are ready! Lets make the bag pattern! First I took my vibrant yellow fabric and drew a line 44″ across in the horizontal direction and 20″ up from that line on both sides and another 44″ line connecting these two 20″ lines. This creates a 44″x20″ rectangle. Make sure you leave ½” seam allowance on the 44″ lines.
On the 44″ lines make a tick mark at 20″ and at 24″. From these tick marks square up 2.5″ this will create a little square you will cut out of the rectangle making a base to your bag like shown in the picture below. After you have completed this step you can cut out this pattern piece, place and pin it on your other fashion fabric and cut it out, making the exact same pattern.
You are ready to sew! To create a reversible bag you will need to make a bag out of each of the fabrics and set them inside one another. First take one of the pattern pieces, place right sides together, matching up the corners of the little square you have cut out of the fabric. It is important that this square is even. Now sew ½” up the side seams leaving the square open. Do not sew the square shut.
Once both of your side seams are sewn together now you are ready to create the base of the bag which is why we left this square open and untouched. Take the square and open it, you will notice it will flatten out the bottom of your bag. Take the middle of that square and flatten it to the center of the side seam. The corners of the square will match up perfectly and you will sew a straight line right across with ¼” seam allowance. Do this to both sides now your bag as a flat base about 4″ wide. Repeat these same steps to the other fashion fabric creating two separate bags.
If you want a pocket on the front of each side of your reversible bag like mine you will need to place these on before sewing the bags inside one another. I cut a 7″x 5″ rectangle on each fabric and folded all of the sides under ¼” hiding all the raw edges. I placed the yellow pocket on the middle of the floral bag and the floral pocket on the middle of the yellow bag. Sew down the sides and across the bottom ¼” leaving the top open. You now have a pocket for the inside and outside of your bag!
To complete the bag place one bag inside the other wrong sides together. Match up the side seams and fold the top part of each bag in about ½” right sides together hiding the raw edges and pin it all the way around. You will want to pin the straps in place between the two fashion fabrics making a horseshoe shape, like shown. Keep in mind you will want to only sew over the rope you left a longer at both ends of the straps (not the chains) and make sure the rope is far enough down, in-between the fabrics, to sew on top of when sewing around the top of the bag.
Now you can sew all the way around the top of the bag with ¼” seam allowance, enclosing it. When you are sewing over the rope I would back stitch, back and forth three or four times, securing the straps tightly in-between the fashion fabrics ensuring durability. You can sew back and forth over it as many times as you would like to make sure they stay put.
That’s it! You’ve done it! You have completed your very own reversible bag!! Now grab your things head to the beach and spread the word!
