DIY Beach Bag (and how you can make it for FREE)

Have an old bath towel that has seen better days? Don't throw it out! Make a #DIY, #beginnerfriendly, #nowaste EXTRA LARGE beach bag in less than an hour.

DIY Bath Towel Beach Bag

Find yourself carrying multiple bags to the pool or beach? This tattered towel turned beach bag will be the only bag you need --- it holds 6 towels with room for snacks, skincare and more! Got an hour or less? Let's get started. You got this!

Materials

Old Bath Towel *Optional 1/8 yd coordinating fabric, or you can hem the raw edge of the towel Thread (Coordinating Color)

Equipment

Sewing Machine

Old Towel

I'm pretty ashamed that I let some of my towels get this bad. This towel is 12 years old and gone from bath towel, to clean-up towel, to car towel. Can't say I didn't get my money out of it. I was going to toss it but a chunk of it was still in good shape. I was heading out to the pool and was tired of using my good Vera Bradley bags, so I had an idea!

Step 1

Take your towel an trim off the worn parts (if applicable).

Tip #1 - I ended up saving the ends of my towel (about 3 inches) to use for the straps. If you want to use the towel fabric as straps, cut 3 inches from the top and bottom (width wise.)

Step 2

My towel was 51"L x 30"W. I cut off 3" from both the top and bottom (saved for the straps) then folded my towel in half. See photos below.

Towel Folded in Half, Before Trimming

Towel After Edges Trimmed

Step 3

With your towel folded in half, cut 4x4 square on the fold. See photo below.

DIY Bath Towel Beach Bag

Step 4

Cut down the middle of the fabric that is folded (to make 2 separate pieces.)

Cut the Fold

Step 5

Take the top of your towel (without the 4" cut-outs) and fold it down to where the 4" cut out lays perfectly on top of one another. Repeat 4 times until all 4" corners are sewn together.

Make the edges meet, sew together. Repeat 4 times for all 4 corners.

Step 6

Once all your corners are sewn together, it's time to sew the 2 pieces of fabric together. With right sides together, wrong sides facing outwards, match up the edges, clip/pin and sew together. Do not sew the top, only the sides and bottom.

Right sides together, sew the sides and bottom of the bag.

Step 7

Once all your corners are sewn together, it's time to sew the 2 pieces of fabric together. With right sides together, wrong sides facing outwards, match up the edges, clip/pin and sew together. Do not sew the top, only the sides and bottom.

Step 8

After the bag has been sewn, turn right side out. At this point, you can either make your own bias tape (visit my baby blanket blog post to see how), or simply fold the top edge inward (see picture below) and hem.

Fold over by at least 1/4" and sew. This creates a hem.

DIY Bias Tape

Step 8

You're almost done! On to the straps. Take your 3" straps (or whatever width you cut yours to), fold in half and sew. See photo below.

Fold strap in half and sew.

Finished Bag Straps

Tip #2 - The terrycloth will be really hard to turn right side out (because it is so thick), so I left mine with the raw edge. Luckily, terrycloth doesn't fray too bad. You can always do a zig-zag stitch on the raw edge to eliminate potential fraying.

Step 9

When both straps are sewn, lay next to one another and be sure they are the same length. Next, place them on your bag. For my bag, I placed each strap 5" inward and 2.5" deep.

Position the handles

Step 10

Final step, sew the handles to the bag. See the illustration below for how I attached my handles.

...and you're DONE! You did it! I'm so proud of you! If you made this, post your bag below. I would LOVE to see it!

DIY Beach Bag