Make a Beach Bag from a Beach Towel and Hand Towel in 10 minutes

The weather is hot and trips to the beach or swimming pool or splash pad are about to become a nearly daily part of our keeping cool routine. So why not turn your big beach towel into your beach bag! Its such an easy project too. If you have a sewing machine you could have this sewn up in 10 minutes.

You will need:

a beach towel
a hand towel
4 feet length of ribbon/strapping/cord/shoe lace
basic sewing materials (sewing machine, thread, pins, scissors)

This vibrant beach towel is from Walmart for $8.00.

Happy Childhood Memory Moment…

When I was a youngster my grandma took me and 2 of my sisters and 2 of my cousins on a camping trip. What was she thinking taking 5 girls aged around 10 to 13 year old, on a trip like this. At a family gathering when they announced the trip was being planned, they produced beach towels and toiletries bags for each of us. My towel had hot air balloons on it and she had sewn in a bit of fabric and written my name on it. As much as I loved that trip-I cherished my bag and towel all my own. Sigh…I love my grandma memories…someday I should tell you about when we made horseradish for my big sister’s wedding reception….hilarious!

Back to the project at hand….

So this week I pick up two lovely bright beach towels for my girls. I also spotted some hand towels and bought those too-just simply because our hand towels keep disappearing.

So I’m unloading the newly purchased summertime items. Beach towels, hand towels with a nice ribbon on it, sunscreen, bug spray…and I think, wait a second! Drop everything and get out the sewing machine! LOL

First of all we need to see if that gorgeous yellow hand towel will fit width wise on my beach towel. Take two bag handles from it…yes we can!

So with a big and little towel and the ribbon ready here is what you do…..

Place the hand towel on top of the beach towel right sides facing each other.

Cut the strapping materials into two pieces 2 feet long each (24 inches or 60 cms). Look around to see what you have…shoe laces, webbing, braded trims.

Starting with the beach towel fold in half and mark the middle with a pin. Make a semi-circle with the straps and pin them to the towel.

Since my ribbon has the print on only one side I made sure this was showing on the good side of the towel. Also I tucked the ribbon ends under so they look finished and secure when sewn.

Next lay the hand towel on top of the beach towel and match up the location of the handles on the beach towel. Pin in place. I left the tag on the hand towel to remind me which side was my good side and which was the back. I did cut it off later. As you can see the towels don’t match up exactly the same width-one was 1/2 inch wider on both sides. It doesn’t matter!

Tuck the ends over so there won’t be fraying from the ribbon or strapping materials.

Sew it in place. I usually go around in a square for my stitching on straps to bags. If this was my own bag I would likely put on proper tote bag webbing straps and use a square of fabric or a face cloth to add a pocket or two. That is because I carry everything but the kitchen sink. I would also consider putting a hidden pocket somewhere on it to hide my keys and cell phone.

But since these towel bags are for the kids, the ribbon handles I used will be fine.

Next we will put the hand towel on the beach towel and pin them in place-Right sides facing in!

Sew down the side of the hand towel, then turn to sew the length and up to the top. See photo below. Now you have a bag!

Now you have a bag!

It might look wrong at first. I made 2 of these and at this point I think…uh oh did I do this right? But alas it is fine. Just turn the whole thing inside out and put the tail of the beach towel inside the bag. Add your sunscreen, hat, water bottle, snacks and goggles and off you go!