The "Krone" Lower Austria column

The little messenger needs a new bag

How I sewed myself a functional and beautiful summer bag from a carpet. As a columnist, "Die kleine Botin" aka Daniela Gaigg writes about topics relating to life with her family. These include sustainability in everyday life, self-care and food for thought for parents.

Last week, one of my beloved large bags finally broke and after the initial annoyance, I'm now looking on the bright side and looking forward to getting a new one.

I like it simple and plain and especially in everyday life with children, what a bag has to be able to do is very complex. I want to be able to go shopping quickly, take my laptop to the office, carry the kids' things and it should also look really good. Especially now for the summer, I prefer uncomplicated, sturdy fabrics that are washable and that I can knock out sand rather than delicate leather, so I implemented a simple DIY idea and turned a rug into a functional basket bag.

Step-by-step to the new bag
Sounds exciting? But it was really easy and finished in 10 minutes! I used a thin, flat-woven cotton jute rug measuring 50 x 80 cm and here's how:

DIY bag

1. Fold the rug in half lengthways and sew the side seams with the sewing machine.
2. Pull open at the corners and fold the bottom onto the side seam and topstitch: these triangles form the bottom edge and give the bag its width.
3. Turn the bag inside out and sew on a strap as carrying loops

Depending on what kind of bag you want to make, you can vary the corners and straps or use a different rug.