Free pattern: Large beach bag
I know, it’s crazy: I don’t live anywhere near a beach and it’s wintertime. However, a beach bag this size is endlessly useful for things like swimming lessons (in an indoor pool right now), sleepovers, laundromat visits, taking parcels to the post office and taking fabric around to your mum’s.
This large beach bag has two sets of handles – long and short ones – made of twill tape. It has an interior pocket (I put two in mine).
Here’s the beach bag draft and sewing instructions. You could make this bag in an evening. I cut mine out one night and sewed it up the next.
Any kind of strong thick fabric is good to use (see suggestions in the draft). Striped fabrics look GREAT.
For mine, I cut up a pair of 1970’s curtains I bought from the op shop a couple of years ago. I liked the browns and the bold pattern. I vaguely thought I’d make a skirt or shift dress but I might look like I’m wearing old curtains (what worked for Scarlett O’Hara and the Von Trapps may not work for me).
Now that I look at them properly together, I see they’re not actually a pair – must have covered different windows. They’re homemade curtains; I can tell by the stitching and I suspect the lining came from another set of curtains.
The curtains aren’t very thick but they’re lined so I used their lining for my bag as well. You might like to line yours too. Make a bag in fabric and a bag in lining (up to Step 2), then match the raw edges together at the top. It helps to stitch them together with a long stitch. Proceed to Steps 3 and 4 to finish the top.
An essential part of any bag (I think) is the pockets. I put two in mine, to hold car keys, swimming pool fees, phone and so on.
Here are the pieces for the pocket. This zip is too long but I shortened it from the top after I’d sewn it in. After the zip is sewn in, the pocket is folded in half (in the way I’ve done it here) and the sides sewn. I used French seams for my pockets, for a clean finish.
The completed pocket is simply slipped under the top folded edge before you stitch it down in Step 4. It’s designed to sit in the middle of the handles.
Cheers!