Duct Tape Tote Bags

     Back in November I was invited to join a group of ladies at church to make a tote bag out of duct tape and a t-shirt. I was told bring a t-shirt and matching duct tape.  I had a great time learning to make this no-sew project that is very useful.

      When I brought it home, my girls were fascinated. They were slightly green with envy that I had made the bag for myself, not them.  I promised that one day I would make each of them a bag, too. That day came on New Years Eve.

     Sarah has a favorite t-shirt we bought almost 3 years ago when we visited Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  She loves that t-shirt, but after three years of growing from 5’ to 5’8”, she has outgrown it. She would still try to wear it, but I finally told her it was becoming almost obscene it was so short.  This was the shirt she wanted to use for her bag.

     When I was shopping at Target on Black Friday, I found a really cute Christmas t-shirt for Rebekah. I bought it and told her to wear it all Christmas season, and then we could make a bag out of it. So her green Christmas shirt with the trees on it became her bag.

     The process of making the bags is fairly simple. I had the basic idea from making one at church, but looked it up on YouTube before I made the girls’ bags. Basically, you cut off the sleeves, turn the t-shirt inside out and cover it in duct tape on both sides. Staple the bottom of the bag and staple across each point on the sides to make a flat bottomed bag. Then turn the bag right side out and finish off the top with more duct tape. The outside of the bag is the t-shirt you used and the inside is duct tape. This makes the bag waterproof on the inside.

     On the internet, I found a way to make the handles using the t-shirt itself. But the way I was shown first, we finished the top of the bag and then added grommets and rope for the handles. I have used this bag for the whole month of December and it is pretty sturdy, so I decided grommets and rope were the way to go for the girls. The only bad part about using the grommets is the hammering it takes to get them attached to the bag. I smashed my thumb on the first one and Matt had to finish putting them in. 

     The bags turned out really great. Sarah wanted a bag to keep her drawing supplies. We also used longer handles so she can wear the bag over one arm and her head, with the bag sitting on her hip. Rebekah decided to put pink and white stripes on the inside of her bag. Each bag turned out  unique and special.

Front of Bags

Inside of bags, all duct tape