Recycled Sail Bag

I wanted a new bag for a while now but couldn't find one online that suited my taste. So I thought let me roll up my sleeves and make one myself. I am a big fan of bags made from used material such as Susan Bijl and Freitag, so I thought I can do that too and got to work. Now, let's get started!

For this project you will need:

-Candle+ matches

-Sewing machine 

-Strong fabric (I use sail)

-straps

-Clip or other type of closing mechanism 

-Scissors

-Pencil/pen and paper

-Double-sided tape is very handy 

The first step is to think and draw out the pattern. You can think about how big you want to make the bag and what you eventually want to use it for. I have made it 3 times now and this time I will make a bigger version, the dimensions can be found in the picture. You can change this pattern yourself to suit your needs! You also need a loose strap measuring 25 by 5 cm to cover up the sewn straps at the back so the whole thing looks more finished. You also need two straps that will later serve as shoulder straps, in my case these are 70 cm long and about 1.5 metres of these straps for later finishing and other straps.

The next step is to cut this pattern from your fabric. My fabric was already nicely finished on one side so I chose to include this side in my bag as well. This saves work and looks nice :) PS: keep the squares you cut from the large rectangle aside as I used them later for the shoulder straps.

Now it's time to attach all the back straps. For this, you first need to decide which side of the fabric you want the inside and outside. You sew this strap on the pretty (out) side of the fabric, this will sit against your back, so the smartest thing to do is to sew this strap on the uglier side of the outside. Under this strap you sew the handle, the two back straps and another piece of strap that you can adjust later for the clip. Sew the extra rectangles cut out and saved from step 2 to the end of the back straps. Make sure you sew them all to the same length so the bag doesn't sit crooked.

Since I already have one finished top, I only need to make the other side pretty by folding a piece of the band through the middle and sewing it on. You can skip this step but it makes for a nicer end result. As an added feature, I added an extra strap to the inside back so this can hold my laptop in place. 

Now it is time to put on the strap for the clip to hook into. I did this by finding the centre of the bag and using this line as the centre line where I sew the strap on. By rolling up the top and seeing how far the bag should close, I determined where the starting point of this strap is. Then I attached a piece of double-sided tape every 3cm so it is clear where each next point should start. By measuring 4cm from your strap and pushing this point back to the piece of double-sided tape (at 3cm), you get a little bridge, so to speak, so that the clip has enough room to connect easily in this strap.

The bag is already starting to take more shape and it is time to fix the placement of the back straps. I did this by folding the bag inside out and using paper clips to hold it in place. Then I manipulated the straps until I found the bag sitting at a nice height on my back. In my case, this was 8 cm from the bottom of the bag. 

After this, sew the two sides closed. Make sure you reinforce at the top and bottom by going over them a few times. It is easy to hold everything together using paper clips and double-sided tape. For the rectangles of the back straps, make sure both corners form a straight line with the side of the bag. Make sure all the straps stay in place so you don't accidentally sew them in place.

Now it's time for a bit of fiddling, the bottom needs to be sewn in place. You do this by folding the bag open a little and pressing it down. Make sure you secure everything with paper clips first. It is also useful to use a pencil to draw a line over which you can sew to ensure a good connection.

The bag is almost finished, but to prevent fraying, it is smart to burn all the sides. You do this by holding a flame (candle) close to the fabric and pressing it closed with a pen.

Now you can finally see the result by folding the bag inside out. Press all the corners out. The last step is to determine the length of the rope where the clip is attached. I folded the bag closed and eyeballed the length I wanted.

now you can shine wherever you go with your selfmade bag :) Have fun making it!