DIY Utility Sack From Rice Sack and Old Pants

I was needing a bag where I can stuff my sons wet swim wear so I made this DIY shopping bag from a rice sack and an old pant I had laying around. This project might have a few more steps involved, but it is worth it.

Sewing machine

Empty 20kg rice sack

Roll of polyester all purpose thread

Scissor

Ruler

Zipper of about 20 inch

A couple of sewing clips

Sewing machine needle #14

Sewing seam ripper

Old pants

Tailor chalk

measuring sewing tape

We start by removing the waistband of the pants and we cut it open from the inseam of the pants and we remove the crotch line on both sides. We then remove the sack stitching.

We close the bottom of the bag with a double fold hem. We open the corners of the bottom of the bag as shown in the picture and we measure 10 cm from corner inward of bag and sew a line on both corners. We flip the sack inside out. We fold, clip and sew 12cm for the hem of the bag (this is where you choose how long you wish to leave your sack). Do not cut the extra 12 cm from the bag to avoid it from fraying.

Measure the length of bag and the circumference of the opening. Fold the pants In half and measure the circumference adding 2cm, then add 2cm to the length of fabric using the chalk and the ruler, we cut off the excess fabric eliminating the pants zipper.

With the help of the clips we sew the length and bottom of the lining with straight stitching and zigzag. We measure 10cm from the corner inwards and we sew a line as shown in the picture.

We introduce the inside lining inside the bag making sure the corners of the lining coincide with the corners of the bag. Using the clips we fold a centimeter of the bag inward and we sew the lining and the bag together as shown in the picture. We are leaving a centimeter without lining in order to make it easy to sew on the zipper.

With the excess fabric we cut four pieces of fabric measuring 28.5cm x 9cm. We sew two of them from the ends and we fold it in half. We sew it along the length of folded fabric. We flip the fabric with the help of the scissors. We repeat this process with the other remaining pieces of fabric. Once we have both handles flipped we sew them to the bag 10cm from the ends. We repeat this with the other handle.

We measure 1.5cm from each end as shown in the picture. Center the long zipper tape along the top edge with the right side of the zipper against the bag interior. Use clips along the zipper to help you hold it in place. Repeat same process on the other side of zipper. The zipper teeth should coincide evenly with the top edge of the bag. Now we close the bag to make sure the zipper closes properly and we are done.