Craft Envy: Fabulous Friends Wednesday - Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans!!!!

Hey everyone! Welcome to another FABULOUS FRIENDS WEDNESDAY! I am thrilled to welcome Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans as our guest today. Honestly, I'm a little star struck, I've been following their blog since we first started even browsing craft blogs. These ladies are so creative and fun! I love their Iron Crafter challenges, and maybe might even enter??? We'll see. Thanks so much Fawnda, for sharing your talents with us today!

Hello Craft Envy Readers! ! I am so excited to be guest posting here today!
Let me introduce myself!
I am Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans a little DIY blog that I co-author with my best friend Jeannine.

I am a mom to a 2 year old son (who we adopted from Korea about 1.5 years ago!) and a wife to an amazing man! I love all things crafty!
We have all kinds of fun stuff going one at Fireflies and Jellybeans! We have a Show Off Your Stuff Party every Thursday where you can link up your posts that you want to show off!

We also have the Iron Crafter Competition, were crafters compete to make projects with a secret ingredient!

Today I have a great project for you! ! It is summer and that means the beach! SO, I am going to show you how to turn this Shower Curtain into....

...this beach bag!

Here is what you will need:

Shower Curtain

Coordinating fabric (12''X16'') for the pocket

Sewing machine w/sewing accessories (thread, scissors... etc...)

Make sure your shower curtain has the top that has the holes for the rings!

1. Make a pattern for you bag. Use a scrap piece of fabric or a big piece of paper to make your pattern. I wanted my bag to have a rounded bottom so I folded my fabric in half and cut out what I wanted half the bag to look like.

This is what it looks like unfolded. It is 26 inches wide and 20 inches tall. You can make yours as big as you want it!

2.) Fold your shower curtain in half with the ring holes on the top and place your pattern on top of it. (You need 2 pieces of the patten for the 2 sides of the bag.)

Pin your pattern to the shower curtain.

Cut out the pattern pieces. I cut mine out at the same time (that is why I folded it in half)

3.) You should have PLENTY of fabric left for your straps! Cut out two rectangles that are 36" X 3"

For the pocket you can use coordinating fabric like I did or you could use the left over shower curtain too!

Cut out a rectangle that is 12" X 16"

4.) Now we are going to iron! Iron the ends and the sides of your straps to the wrong side of the fabric.

then fold in half and iron... now you should have all finished edges!

Fold the pocket in half so that you have a 12" X 8" rectangle with RIGHT sides together.

5.) Now, we are going to sew the straps! Sew along the open side of the strap to finish it off! put the straps aside for a little bit.

6. Now we are going to sew the pocket! Sew the 3 open sides of the pock leaving a 3-4 inch opening to flip it right side out.

Flip the right side out and iron the edges and fold the opening inside... we will sew that part closed when we sew it onto the bag.

Pin your pocket on your bag where you want it to be placed.

Top sew around the three sides of the pockets leaving the top open.

6. Now we are going to sew the bag together! Pin the pieces RIGHT sides together and sew around the edge with a 1/2" seam allowance

Use a zig-zag stitch to help it not fray as much or if you are lucky enough to have a surger use that! :)

Flip your bag right side out! Almost done! : )

7.) Here is one of the coolest parts of the bag! Attaching the straps!

Thread the strap through one of the ring holes and tie a knot to keep it in place. Repeat on the other side! HOW COOL IS THAT! I love it!

All done!

Fill it with towels and sand toys and anything you would need at the beach!

Here is what else is cool about it... You can use the ring holes to attach other things like your keys (with a carabiner clip) or your sunglasses. You could use a ribbon to tie things to it too!