I must start this off by saying that I’m loving the straw/basket bag trend right now! Which may have rubbed off on my creativity, as I’m using a lot of natural fibres and colours at the moment. I recently spotted a picture of a round bag made out of burlap and knew I wanted to DIY my own version! It took a couple of weeks to decide on the best way to get a ’round’ shape that would hold. After discovering them only recently, I decided to use craft rings!! I’ve never used them before, but feel like they may end up featuring in a few more DIYs 😉
What I love about taking this round bag to the beach is that the burlap fabric is so open. Have you ever used a beach bag so often that when you go to reach into the bottom of your bag (most likely for your keys), you end up with a handful of sand under your nails?! With this bag, there’s no chance of the sand pooling at the bottom. It all just filters through!
At the markets you can easily see what’s in your bag and the burlap allows your flowers or fruit and veg to breathe, so it gets home just as fresh as when you bought it.
DIY Round Beach x Market Bag
You Will Need:
-Burlap/Hessian Fabric (0.5-1m)
-Two 16″ or 400mm craft rings
-Cotton trim between 30-38mm wide
-Burlap trim around 40mm wide
Note: you could just cut your own burlap instead of using the burlap trim for this project, however the trim is a little neater to work with and you won’t have to sew the edges of it to stop it unravelling. Basically, it saves a heap of time and makes the overall project neater!
On a flat surface, place one of the craft rings on top of your fabric. Trace around the outside of the ring and cut out the circle. Do this for both rings, these will be the two sides of your bag. You will not need a seam allowance on the burlap circles as we are using the cotton trim to edge it. As long as your burlap is slightly larger than the rings it will be fine.
Optional: Once the two circles were cut out, I used a pair of tweezers on one of them to pull out every 3rd or 4th string of burlap (one direction only) to create a more open-type weave.
With the ring resting on the circle, use the cotton trim to fold around the edge of the burlap and craft ring and pin it in place. As burlap has a tendency to unravel, this will create a stronger seam and is more likely to hold. I used a trim that was 30mm wide, however 38mm would have worked better as the 30mm was a bit tight when trying to sew along the edge of it. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the right colour in a 38mm width, but it still worked out ok.
With your sewing machine on a zigzag stitch, sew along the inner edge of the trim to fasten the trim to the burlap. Really, the hoop itself doesn’t need to be attached, it will just sit inside this ‘tube’ we are sewing. Do this for both sides.
For the handles, measure the burlap trim in the length you would like your handles to be (times two handles). Fold each piece in half length-ways and sew along the edge, leaving around 1-2″ free at either end. Work out where you would like to place your handles on each side of the bag. Pin the ends in place and sew around them, making a square shape. This will help give a stronger hold to the handles and spread out any strain from the weight of your bag.
Measure a length of burlap trim that is half to three-quarters the circumference of your circles. This will be used to give the bag ‘depth’, and let you fit lots more in to it! Pin one side of the trim to the inside circumference of one of the circles. Sew along the edge. Do the same for the other circle, and this is the final step in creating your bag! See the ‘depth’ of the bag created by the burlap trim in the below picture on the left.


Its just as versatile for the markets as it is to take to the beach! What would you use it for the most?


What do you think of my DIY round beach x market bag? If you’re after more DIYs like this, take a look here, or follow us on Bloglovin’ to stay up to date!
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3 Comments. Leave new
Fantastic idea!
Hi! I am planning to make this as a gift, but I’m not completely sure how you attach the burlap trim between the two circles. If you could explain further, I would appreciate it!
Hi Lexi, thanks for your question. This is probably the trickiest part. Basically, pin along one edge of the trim to the inside edge of the circle – around where the cotton trim is sewn to the burlap. It won’t sit ‘flat’ when its pinned as this is the part that gives the bag some depth.
If you are using a sewing machine, you will need to push the circle under the foot of your machine, so you can sew along the inner side of the hoop. Pin and sew one side first, and then pin the other circle side. When you are doing the second side be careful that you don’t accidentally sew the circles together! Make sure only the burlap trim and circle are in the line of sewing.
Hope that helps! It is a little tricky but worth it! I know I would love to receive the bag as a gift so I hope it works out 🙂