Attack the craft stash: Wetbag tutorial

Nicole Viola Bennett -

Written by editor Nicole Bennett of Gidget Goes Home.

I bought a piece of PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabric a couple of years ago to make a wetbag for cloth diapering or even a diaper. But eventually it got relegated to the stash when I finally decided buying a bag on Amazon was a better use of my time. I finally decided to put it to use!

So what is a wetbag exactly? It’s a bag lined with waterproof fabric designed to hold something damp like a dirty cloth diaper, or even swim suits.

As we enter beach and pool season I decided to make a cute wetbag for a friend’s birthday gift. She and I are both currently taking our youngest two kiddos to swimming lessons and throughout the spring and summer we will visit the pool and the beach many times.

I used to wrap wet suits up in a towel or reuse a plastic grocery bag– but this is a much prettier alternative. 🙂 A wetbag is the perfect place for tossing in wet bathing suits so they don’t soak everything else in the beach bag.

How to sew a simple button-top wetbag

All you need for this project is

  • 2 pieces of outer fabric (cotton, batik, etc)- 12″ x 16″ each, or to your desired size
  • 2 pieces of lining out of PUL or other waterproof material- 12″ x 16″ each, or to your desired size
  • button
  • (optional) about 12″ of material for your strap (thick ribbon, etc)

All of this came from my craft stash! The batik matched my PUL beautifully and who knows where this button came from but it made a nice accent. The hand strap must have been leftover from some previous project as I was able to scavenge from my overflowing ribbon drawer.

First lay out your fabric and pin together one lining and one outer fabric (right sides together). You’ll do this twice. In the photo, you’ll see one pair already pinned on the left and then on the right I’m showing you the other set before I pinned it.

Sew each pair together with about a 1/4″ seam. I recommend pinning and sewing with the PUL on top as the cotton fabric will slide over your feed dogs more smoothly.

Turn fabrics right side out and press the seam on the cotton side.

Top stitch close the edge (about an 1/8″). Now you have two lined pieces like the ones above.

Open your pieces and lay them right sides together with the two outer fabrics together and the two linings together.

Pin all the way around the edges, making sure to pin the your top-stitched edges so they are both pointing towards the outer fabric.

Sew all the way around, leaving a 2-3″ opening at the bottom of the lining (start and end on lining to leave the opening). If you want a hand strap, fold it half and then stick the folded end into your outer fabric, leaving a bit of the end sticking out. Determine where the strap will be by placing it in relation to the topstitched edges of the fabric. Pin it into the seam before you sew to secure it in place.

Clip the corners and turn the whole thing inside out through the opening you left.

Topstitch along the bottom of the lining, closing your opening– it will naturally fold itself in, but you might want to pin it in place, especially since the PUL can be a bit slippery to work with. This seam will be a bit challenging to sew since you have slippery on top and bottom. Don’t be afraid to slightly lift your presser foot while you sew your first few stitches and really guide it with your fingers to get it going.

Choose a spot for your button and make a buttonhole in a coordinating position. Hand-sew your button on. (Please ignore my wonky buttonhole. Ahem. Technical difficulties).

And voila! You’re ready for the beach or pool!

I did read that tossing it in the a hot dryer for about twenty minutes will help the PUL reseal itself where you may have made pinholes.

Hat tip to Cindy at Skip to My Lou– I’ve been using her zipper pouch tutorial for years and it served as inspiration for how to make this bigger, non-zippered pouch.

Do you have any PUL fabric in your stash? Do you use a wetbag for wet swim gear?