Since we have bought soil already many times for our plants and flowers, I had for a while now some of the sturdy plastic bags where the soil comes in and I was keeping them because I thought they could be great for a bag. This is my upcycling attempt from a soil bag to a drawstring gym bag:

Just for looks, I decided to turn it inside out so the black would be the visible side (I could have ironed it a little bit with parchment paper for the photo 😉 ). The width of the bag was perfect, I only cut about 20cm from the top so it wouldn’t be too deep.

I don’t have a sewing machine but the only thing I had to hand sew was the top to run the string through and it was easy with a not-so-thin nylon thread. Then I added the grommets at the bottom corners directly on the bag. I saw some sew extra fabric hoops to the corners to which they knot the string (Here is the video tutorial I followed).

What I usually carried to the gym in winter was a .7L bottle, umbrella, body towel, face/hand towel, weightlifting gloves plus basic items in a separate purse inside of the bag. So as you can see, there was still plenty of space.

I personally loved it, is quite strong and I can carry heavy items (the original bag was of 20L soil, so you can imagine). The only thing I would change is the string to a thicker one, but other than that is quite functional and now I not only use it as a gym bag but when I do a quick grocery shopping. It definitely has more space than what it seems and I can roll it so it doesn’t occupy too much space in my purse in case I need it 😉

What do you think? I find it functional, which for me is one of most important things in the upcycling projects I make. Let me know if you have repurposed a soil bag, maybe I can gather some ideas to share on a blog post!

Trash is the Failure of Imagination 😉