How to Make a Beach Tote from Duct Tape

There are so many beautiful patterns and types of duct tape in the craft stores.  What once was plain silvery gray are now rainbow colors and bright patterns.  You can even make your beach tote to match your swim suit if you want.

The most important first step is to learn how to make duct tape fabric.  From that point everything is a lot easier.  Say for example that you would like the sides to be about 12×12 inches.  You will need to make a 12×12 piece of duct tape fabric.  To do this you will cut strips of duct tape 12 inches long.  One side will be sticky so you need to cover that will more tape.  So start out by cutting 4 strips of tape 12 inches long.  If you’d like the inside of your tote to be a different color half of your strips will need to be that inside color and half will need to be the outside color.

1. Take the inside tape strip and lay it directly on top of the outside tape color. Make sure to line up the strips as exactly as you can so all of the sticky is covered up on both sides.  Be careful to avoid bubbles in the tape.
2. Take another inside strip and lay it down, overlapping about ¼” of the other inside strip.  Turn it over and cover that strip with another outside strip color.  Continue to do that until you have a 12×12 piece of duct tape fabric.
3. Create another 12×12 sheet of duct tape fabric the same way.  This is the other side of the tote bag.
4. For the sides of the bag you will start just like you did with the sides.  However, you will make the sides only as wide as you need them.  For a tote wide enough to carry a towel and other stuff you probably need to make the sides about 10×12.
5. Attach the sides to the front and back.  Similarly to how you created the fabric you are going to lay the front panel of the bag next to the side panel and using a 12 inch piece of tape you will adhere the panels together.  Do this to the other side panel so that you can work on it while it’s flat.  Now attach the back panel to the second side panel still keeping it flat so that your tape is straight and doesn’t have a lot of bubbles.  To make the bag 3D you will need to bring the two edges together and tape them to form the body of the bag.
6. For the bottom you will need to create duct tape fabric in the dimension of the bag.  If you make your sides 10 inches wide them you will make your bottom piece 10x 12.  Using the same method as before make the duct tape fabric.  Then attach the bottom on all edges with strips of tape.
7. To reinforce the whole bag you can tape everything on the inside and outside of the bag.  If you have used different tape on the inside of the bag just make sure that you stay consistent when attaching the panels together.
8. For the handles of the bag you have two options.  The first option is to decide how long you’d like the handles to be and adhere two strips of tape together at that length.  Make two of these so that you have a handle on each side of the bag.  Attach the ends of the handles to the sides of the bag using strips of duct tape.  On the center of the handles you may want to fold the tape in half and wrap it with additional tape to make the handles more comfortable to hold.
9. A different handle would be one that is a single strap going from end panel to end panel.  Create a strip that is 30 inches long by adhering two pieces of tape together as before.  Set the handle aside and create the loops where the handle will go.  Take a strip of tape that is about 10 inches long and stick it to the side of the tote about 2 inches below the edge.  The tape needs to be vertical at this point.  Stick the tape to the tote for an inch then pinch the tape in half so that it sticks to itself, but leave the last inch to stick back on the tote.  Curve the tape around and stick this end even with the other end.  Now you have a loop.  Create another loop for the opposite end.
10. Take the strap and fold it through the loops.  Use a piece of tape to stick the end of the strap to itself on the other side of the loop.  Do this to the other end of the strap and your tote is complete.

While this is just a basic tote, the possibilities are endless when it comes to meshing fashion and function.  You can make this tote in any size and color that you want, making it the perfect summer accessory.

 P. S. This post was  proposed to me for publication byCarrie Dotson. I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.summernannyjobs.com/blog/how-to-make-a-beach-tote-from-duct-tape/