Beach Towel Beach Bag

We're off to the beach today. The first time in ... um...uh...  
Huh.
Obviously WAY too long!
This will be the kids' first time seeing the ocean.
I imagine that my sweet, timid CJ is going to be petrified.
At least he can go in style, right!

 I started with one beach towel {from Target for $5.99} that was 30" x 60". I washed it {optional} which shrunk it down to 28" x 56" and then cut it in half so that I had two 28" x 28" squares which meant that with one towel I could end up with two bags. {Two beach bags for $3 each!}

I then folded the squares in half "inside-out" and pinned the edges to keep the fabric from shifting as I drew a deep U-shape. I then stitched the open side of the bag and bottom to create a giant pocket and before removing the pins, I cut the deep U-shape out. I saved the fabric for a little later.

For CJ, I opened the bag, matched the handles and stitched across the top to create one shoulder strap.
For Mak, whose body is about as long as this bag, I hemmed the ends of the handles and tied them in a knot to create a shorter bag. {I can always untie and stitch them later.}

I could have stopped here but the fabric unraveled more than I liked so I rolled the edges.On the first bag, I rolled it only once but ended up with lots of visible frayed ends. With the second, I double rolled the edges and ended up with a MUCH cleaner, thicker edge.

Since my kids keep water bottles with them at all times I wanted a pocket on the outside so they could have easy access to their drinks quickly. For this, I used that U-shaped piece I cut out earlier. I simply cut the shape into a rectangle, hemmed all four sides and stitched it to one side of each bag.

And that's it! 

 

Stay cool!