Hey Guys!
I’m autie from over at iCandy and I’m excited to be a part of Kierste’s series this summer!
Well, what do we do in the summertime?
at iCandy, we spend most of our days lounging in our beach chairs, drinking diet cokes and watching our kids play for hours at the beach! So, my summertime craft for you is just a quick something that is making my life a little easier, and my car a little less sandy!
I just needed a bag that would successfully store all of my sand buckets, shovels, rakes, and other sand accouterments, would be easy to carry, would allow sand to filter out, and still allow the wet sand to dry out.
check, check, check and check…
All I used was a cheap, mesh laundry bag from Target, and a clearance-d cut of utility fabric (you know, the kind they use to make re-usable grocery bags?) and I’m loving the results.
This just might be genius! :) Want to make one yourself?
Here’s what I used:
1 Heavy Duty Mesh Laundry Bag (from Target)
1 yard (I have left-overs) Utility fabric ($2/yd clearance at JoAnn’s)
serger (not required)
scissors, pins, sewing machine, yada yada
Cut:
-8″ x length of the fabric strip (for the bottom)
-6 1/2″ x length of the fabric strip (for the top)
-8″ x 35″ strip (for the strap)
(I serged the top and bottom of each strip except the strap strip (that one doesn’t matter)
You don’t have to serge them, this fabric doesn’t fray, but I liked the finished edge that it gives. You can choose to zig-zag stitch the top and bottom to finish it, or just leave it plain!
Fold the Strap strip (the 8″ x 35″) directly in half (the long way) and use a ruler to crease along the edge the entire length of the strip to make an obvious line.
When you open it up, you want to be able to see that line!
Next, fold each side into the middle of that line and pin.
like so:
And then again, fold it in half along that crease that you made before. This creates a quadruple thick strap to make it more sturdy, while simultaneously finishing the edges.
Sew around the perimeter of the strap.
Next pin your completed strap onto the drawstring side of your mesh bag, near the top. You just want to make sure that you leave enough room for the drawstring to do it’s job, so a good 3 inches from the top (ish) is great…
Take your top strip of fabric (the one measuring 61/2 x the length of the fabric) and pin it over the strap, running parallel with the top of the bag.
To sew the top strip around the bag, I began at the end of the strip that ran along the strap, and began sewing up, toward the drawstring, and along the strap, then made a right-hand turn to begin sewing around the bag. (I hope that makes sense.) The picture below shows where I started. Sew up the strap/end of the top strip, and then turn the corner to begin sewing parallel to the drawstring. I pinned the strip in place as I went around the bag, measuring periodically to make sure I was equidistant from the top.
As you approach the beginning, fold the end of your strip under to finish it nicely. (you may need to trim your strip a little bit depending on the size of your mesh bag.)
Sew a rectangle over the top strip, where the strap and top strip layer to reinforce the strap.
Next, lay the fabric flat, and sew, again, around the perimeter of the bag, at the bottom of your strip. This step was a little tricky to get the fabric to lay flat, but if I can do it, so can you!
Here’s what the top strip should look like when completed. Now onto the bottom!
Trim off the bottom seam of the mesh bag.
Again, line the strap up with the bottom of the existing bag, and layer the bottom strip over the top of it to reinforce it.
Sew around the top edge of that strip exactly the same as you did the top strip edges, and fold the edge under when you circle around to the beginning of your stitch lines.
To finish off the bottom with a square edge, turn the bag inside out, and serge straight across the bottom (not a necessary step)
And then re-stitched along my serge, and again about a 1/4 of an inch up from the bottom, just to reinforce my stitches. (you never know how heavy those sand buckets will get!)
Next, turn the bag sideways, and press the side-seams and the bottom seams together to create a right triangle at the corner (see picture below)
You can use a ruler, but my Mother-in-law taught me to grab one of the little cards that bias tape comes wrapped around, and cut a little triangular notch out of it about 2/3 down from the top, and use that as your marker…put the top of the card at the top of your triangle, make a little mark where your line is…
and then turn your card sideways, and use it as your straight-edge to draw your stitching line…
Stitch along this line, twice…serge if you’d like, and trim off that little triangle on the edge. Repeat with the other bottom-corner, and you have a square-bottomed bag.
Voila!
I hope this comes in handy for you this summer, and if you can get a chance, stop by and look what else we’ve got going this summer over at iCandy!
Have a great summer!
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I DO think this might be genius! Love this idea, Autie, and such a great tutorial! Thank you so much for being here!
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{kierste}
