Dish Towel Book Bags

We may homeschool, but that doesn't mean we always school at home.  

For example, for part of last year we did music class on Wednesday mornings and took basketball, soccer, or dodge-ball classes in the afternoons.  So in the morning we would pack up lunches and a few books so we could eat and do school work at the park in between classes instead of coming home.  That kind of situation happens at least twice every week.  

Every kid owns a nice backpack, but I found that regular backpacks are just too big and bulky for transporting what we need and things get lost and crumpled in the bottom.  Last year we ended up using these canvas bags.  Though it would have been nice for the handles to be a bit longer, they were the perfect size for a clipboard, a couple workbooks, and a pencil case.  A friend had added the Inside Out picture and given them as birthday party favors.  I'm not sure where she found the bags, but I'm pretty sure I had seen similar at the dollar store.  

Sadly, by the end of the school year, much of the stitching started to come undone.  So the search was on for replacements.  

Sadly, I was unable to find the perfect bags for the right price (I was only willing to spend a dollar or two on each.)  But then when I was at the Dollar Tree I saw all these cute dish towels and was inspired!

These are the perfect size and everyone got to choose their own favorite design!

And since I didn't have to do any measuring, cutting, or hemming for the bags, I was able to whip up 4 in only about half an hour!  The dish towels are just folded in half and sewn down the sides.

 The handles are what took the most time.  I just bought a fifth towel and cut it into four even strips.  Then each strip was sewn in half (right sides together), flipped right side out, and attached to the bags.

 I'm so pleased with how they turned out!  They're cute, perfect size, personal, really soft, and machine washable.  Now let's just hope that they end up being durable enough to last us the whole school year!