sierraclub.org - sierra magazine - may/june 2013 - repurpose-umbrella-tote-bag - repurpose: umbrella tote bag

REPURPOSE | Trash into Treasures

UMBRELLA TOTE BAG
Make your own reusable shopping bag out of a broken umbrella.

Text and photos by Wendy Becktold

Step 7: Sew a seam on each side of the bag. (Optional: Reinforce the seams by ironing the strips of fabric flat on either side of each seam; don’t forget to place a bedsheet on top of the umbrella fabric before ironing.) Then sew a line to the right of the seam and another to the left up the sides of the bag. To see an example, check out Steps 5 and 6 from another Repurpose sewing project I did.

Note: It's possible to download shopping bag patterns off the Internet or to even make your own. On her blog Path to Green, Karyn Alzayer provides directions for making a pattern out of a plastic bag (hopefully, your last). Her finished bag looks great, but I found both the plastic bag and the umbrella fabric to be so slippery that it seemed easier to go rogue. Either way, it's difficult to cut and sew perfectly straight, symmetrical lines with this material, but don’t sweat it. No one is going to wear it, so small inconsistencies won’t stand out.