I’ve been planning to try out some bag making for a while – mostly after coming across some awesome textiles that I wanted to experiment with – but I never quite got the momentum going. I have finally gotten round to it though!

I wanted to start with something simple for my first project so I chose to make a little belt bag!

It’s the modern iteration of the old bum bag (or fanny pack if you’re American) and a classic example of how some rebranding can bring something back to life!

I decided not to use any patterns and worked on the basis that if it’s all straight lines and simple shapes, it should be easy enough to design my own!

Ok, so not a lot of design work went into to as I kept it super super basic…

I wanted to create a simple pouch with a flap closure and slits in the back to thread a belt through. I checked the sizing against my phone and purse so I knew it would fit all my essentials!

I used cork fabric for this first project. I’d found one with multicoloured flecks in the background (from eBay) which I loved! The upside of using something like cork is that you don’t need to finish the edges, something I really took advantage of as I left all of mine unfinished and a lot of them exposed.

And this is what I came up with!

It has a double layered back with slits for the belt in the outer layer only. I sandwiched the closing flap between these layers too.

The pouch was made by sewing up the corners and then topstitching it down to the double layered backing. My machine managed to sew the triple layer of cork beautifully!

I put in monks head rivets onto the pouch and punched corresponding holes in the flap to close.

I used a RTW belt and inserted it through the back and that was it!

It was a super quick project once I got into it. I probably spent more time just thinking about what I needed to do!

I’d love to do this style again and add more details like card pockets on the inside and maybe try belt style loops for the back and different types of closures. Both my sisters have requested one so I can experiment whilst making those!

Let me know if you’re interested in having this as a PDF pattern freebie and I’ll look at getting it up on the blog!