Shopping bag made with an old umbrella

A fold up shopping bag made with an old umbrella

This shopping bag made with an old umbrella is really practical and easy to keep in the bottom of your handbag. All you need to make it is an broken umbrella!

I found this particular umbrella in a rubbish bin on a rainy day. The metal frame was broken, so it no longer worked as an umbrella, but I knew that I could make something out of the fabric. A fold up bag is a great thing to make from this kind of fabric, as not only is it really lightweight, but there is already a strap – to tie up the umbrella – that you can keep and use to tie up the finished bag when it is folded.

Preparing your umbrella

The first thing you need to do is prepare your fabric by cutting it from the frame. You could use scissors or a seam ripper to do this. You will be left with a more or less circular piece of fabric with a hole in the middle. You can wash this and iron it on a very low heat to flatten it as much as possible before beginning to make your bag.

Making a pattern for your umbrella bag

You then need to decide how you are going to make the bag, and create a pattern.  I used roughly half of the circle for each side of the bag, giving me a slightly asymmetrical bag. I rounded off the top and added a hole to create the straps.

I taped a few sheets of newspaper together and drew on my pattern, following the shape of my fabric. I made sure to make a pattern that would avoid the hole in the centre of my fabric while using as much of the umbrella as possible, and of course keep the tie that will be used later to keep my shopping bag folded up.

I made the pattern for one half of the bag only and cut it out of the umbrella while folded in half. This gave me the two halves of the bag already attached on one edge, which gives me one less side to sew up later. Before cutting I folded the bag so the tie was aligned on this edge, so it was not cut off, but will be located on the side of my bag once it is finished.

The pattern cut out of the umbrella fabric

Sewing the umbrella bag

I began by sewing a small hem along all the rough edges of the umbrella fabric. I folded over and sewed around the tops of the handles and inside them. This will make the finished bag more long lasting and much neater. Make sure to do this on the inside of your bag, so it won’t show once you turn it the right way around.

I then sewed up the two sides of the bag that weren’t already attached, still with the bag inside out.

Once you have finished, tie and cut off any lose threads, and turn the bag the right way around. And you are all done!

You can roll or fold up your bag and use the original umbrella tie to keep it tidily folded. Perfect for keeping in your handbag or car for when you go shopping.