Fun and Easy Book Bag

This project makes a great craft for a book club meeting or a birthday party. It is in the perfect spot on the difficulty meter. As a result, older kids will enjoy making them and be able to talk to each other while they are doing it and grade schoolers can complete the craft and still have fun!

What you need:

• Dish towels – Find these at a dollar store. It is best to buy dish towels that aren’t made of really thick fabric and that aren’t too big or too small.
• Yarn – Find it at a craft store. Try to get regular-sized yarn or it will be too hard to sew the dish towels.
• Needles – the big blunt ones like these or these. The metal ones are sharper than the plastic ones, and as a result, they poke through the fabric easier. They can be found at a craft store.
• Ribbon or shoelaces – these are for the bag’s handles!
• OPTIONAL: Fabric flowers, fabric markers, faux gems, etc – only buy this if you want to decorate the bags once they are finished.
• OPTIONAL: Hot Glue – only buy this if you want to decorate the bag or don’t want a sewing project. (you could use liquid fabric glue as well).

Craft Steps:

1. Start by laying out the dish towel and turning it so the front – the prettier side – is lying face up. Fold it in half so that the backside – the side that has the tag on it – is on the outside.
   
2. Thread the needle with the yarn. Sew the sides of the towel together, but don’t sew the top. For the first stitch, pull the yarn through so you have an inch left of the yarn. Make sure you sew that into your other stitches to finish (pull the extra yarn down close to the side of the bag and whip stitch over it). The best stitch to use is the whip stitch. It might be a little tough to get the needle through, but persevere!
   
3. Sew the ribbon strap to the seams on either side of the opening. Sewing the strap into the seems helps it to not look like you sewed something to the side of the bag. If you don’t have ribbon, use the yarn to braid a strap, then follow the same steps.
   
4. Turn the bag right side out. If you followed the steps correctly, you should now have a completed bag on the table in front of you. It was that simple. If you want to decorate the bag, now is the time for doing it. Also, if the tag is in the way, just cut it off.
5. Use the bag to constantly carry your own little library wherever you go, just like normal people do. 🙂
   

If you are using hot glue, follow step 1 by turning the bag inside out. Then put a thin layer of glue in between the top and bottom of the bag on the edge. For the handles, just hot glue them to the top of the bag, then flip it inside out. You will have an easy, no-sew bag! Note: It won’t be as strong, so you might not want to carry books in the hot-glue version.

Thank you for reading! I hope this information makes sense and that you are able to make your own book bag. If you have questions, or you made your own, tell me about it in the comments!