Duct Tape and Staple Bag - Gift Bag Idea

I needed a fairly large gift bag for a Mother's Day gift - but I also wanted it to be a bag that could be used as a shopping bag or a beach bag. A couple years ago I made a no sew bag that was a lot of fun. I found it on the Martha Stewart website. A lady made bags with staples and duct tape. So cool!

Here is how I made mine:

I bought a vinyl tablecloth. I cut a piece of vinyl 24 inches wide and 44 inches long. I cut two strips for the handle that were 24 inches long - 3 inches wide. I folded the handle strips in to each other so no raw edges were showing and machine stitched around the edges. The handles were 1 1/4" wide when I was finished. If you want to make this a total no sew project - you can use ribbon, belts, cord, or other materials that already have a finished edge. 

1. Fold the vinyl in half. Fold each top edge over about 2 inches. Measure strap placement - I measured 7 inches from edge. Tape to secure. Then do a big strip of duct tape to finish the whole folded over edge.

2. Draw a line about 1" from both sides. Making sure the top edges are even - put a staple at the top of each side. Continue stapling very close together until you reach the bottom of the bag. Complete both sides.

3. Finish the stapled edges with duct tape - folding the tape over to cover the staples on both sides. You may need to cut the edge so the duct tape will fit - so measure or eyeball it before taping.

4. Once both sides of the bag are stapled and duct taped, put your hand in the bag to flatten out the bottom and make a triangle on the outside of the bag at both sides.

5. Picture 5 show the triangle that should be at the bottom of the bag. Draw a line across the triangle, about three inches in, depending on how wide you want the bottom of your bag to be. Staple across that line. Continue with other side.

6. Turn bag right side out. Picture 6 shows the bottom of the bag. You can duct tape over the staples or you can put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the bag to make it more firm on the bottom.

I will be able to get another big bag from that table cloth and a smaller bag as well. The possibilities with these bags are endless. It is pretty cool to tell people that the bag is made using duct tape and staples too!

Thanks for stopping by!