How to make a chalk bag

Introduction

Chalk bags are usually marked up pretty high in outdoor stores. They cost a few dollars (if that) to make, yet retailers sell them for $30 or more! What a crock! This document will attempt to show you how to make your own chalk bag for only a few dollars.

I apologise for the sloppy nature of this document. It's the first time I've documented one of my sewing projects step-by-step. I've sewn a lot, but never anything really complicated. I conceptualise my creations before sewing, and don't use patterns or detailed measurements. Usually they work out pretty well. Remember, it's pretty hard to mess up when you're sewing, unless you cut something. You can always unstitch and resew.

Required items

• Canvas or some other thick fabric
• Fleece fabric
• Thread matching (or not matching) your fabric
• Nylon cord (50 cm)
• Cold puller (the thing you use to tighten the nylon cord)
• Two 4 mm or 5 mm eyelets
• Eyelet punch
• Hammer
• Sewing machine

Procedure

Essentially, take three strips of fleece of the following dimensions: 1 strip 30-40x10 cm and 2 strips 15x10 cm. Sew these into a simple box with no top as described below.

The fleece box. This is where your chalk will go. I picked fleece just because that's what is usually in chalk bags. Plus it's nice and soft on your hands when you stick them inside. Soft, so soft!

Next, cut out three strips of canvas. The dimensions I used here are 58x13 cm for the large piece and 26x11 cm for the two smaller pieces.

To give the chalk bag a slight bulge at the base, cut the two shorter pieces so they look like this. You can play with the size of the bulge, and if it doesn't work you can always change it a bit more when you're sewing.

Attach the shorter strip with the buldge along the edge. Tack it with pins and make sure it's in the centre of the long strip. Do the same with the other strip.

I put a fold with a stitch in the long strip just for fun. It's not necessary but will make the bag look a little less plain when it's done.

Sew these strips onto the long strip. Remember, you're making a box here, so you're going to need to pull the fabric into place while you're sewing. It helps to stop every two centimetres, lift the foot on the sewing machine (with the needle still in the fabric), and pull the two pieces of fabric so the edges align. You'll end up with wrinkles, but don't worry about those.

Here is one side of one short strip sewn onto the long strip. Notice how the edges come together where the top will remain open (bottom of the photo).

Here one side is completely sewn on. The middle of the long strip serves as the bottom of the box. Doing it this way saves additional sewing and allows you to make the bottom slightly curved.

The completed canvas open-topped box.

Flip it inside out to see what the end product will look like. The size of the two boxes you've just made should be about the same size. Take a ruler and measure the widths of the box. Don't worry about the depths yet. My canvas box was too big, so in the next step we'll make it smaller by adding another stitch to the inside. See below.

The width of my canvas box was about 11 cm, while my fleece box was about 9 cm. I decided to shrink the canvas box my one centimetre on each side to bring it down to size. This also serves as a simple double-stitch to make the chalk bag more durable.

Here we go around the bottom of the box. I'm trying carefully to keep the new stitch approximately one centimetre from the other stitch. Notice all the wrinkles. They don't look so bad when it's turned right side out.

One side is complete. Looks a bit smaller.

The canvas box has been shrunk. I've turned it right side out now, and you can see the slight bulge at the bottom.

You can see some of the wrinkles. Not too bad.

The next step is to add the eyelets. To see where you'd like them, fold the top of the canvas box inside itself to the height you want. Make sure you check it with the fleece box too, so you know where the nylon string will tighten.

I've determined that I want the eyelets about one centimetre below the decorative stitch I put in. Fold the canvas in a horizontal line, and make two small incisions. Make sure you measure from the edges so they're in the centre.

Insert the eyelets and hammer them with your eyelet punch. My box of eyelets came with a punch, all I needed was a hammer to tap them together.

We're going to need to sew a small guide onto the fleece box so the nylon cord doesn't slip off inside the finished chalk bag. I used a small strip of canvas for this, but you can use anything. It also won't be seen (apart from the stitch inside the fleece box) so you can be messy here.

The next step is to feed the nylon cord through the guide and around the fleece box.

Cut the canvas box to the desired size. Remember to measure with the fleece box. Also be sure to account for the double fold. The double fold of canvas must come down from the top and overlap the inner fleece bag so you can sew them both together. It's hard to describe, so just keep reading to see what I mean.

Insert the fleece box inside the canvas box and prepare to feed the nylon cord through the eyelets.

There we go. Once the nylon cord is fed through, make sure it's functional by tugging on both ends. The inner fleece box should compress and tighten together.

This is what it should look like at this stage. Notice the fleece box. The guide you sewed in before should be on the opposite side to the eyelets.

Now begin folding the canvas down. Start with a single fold, and make sure it's symmetrical.

Now make a double fold such that the canvas is now overlapping the fleece box. Tack it with pins as you go.

Here is the chalk bag ready for the final stitch. The pins hold the canvas in place while we sew.

Here is another view. You can put your nylon cord puller on at this stage if you want.

Put the chalk bag under the foot of the machine as shown above. If you're using a thick thread, you may have problems depending on your sewing machine. The needle has to get through three layers (and 6 in some places, due to the stitches inside) of canvas, and it might be hard on the machine. I had to use a thin top thread and used a thicker thread on the bobbin so it matched the decorative stitch I put on earlier.

This is what it should look like now. This part took me a very long time because the top thread wasn't catching on the bobbin, so I had to redo it several times. In the end it turned out okay, as seen above.

And another view.

Now we need to make some simple straps so we can attach the chalk bag to a belt loop or harness. Take a small mount of canvas (here I used 3 cm by 7 cm) and double fold it over itself. Sew along the edges (see above and below).

Try to sew as close as possible to the edges.

You should now have two small strips like this.

Fold the strips over and sew them onto the back of the chalk bag, making two small loops. I had to use a different thread because my machine refused to sew through so many layers of canvas using the thick thread.

That's it! The chalk bag is complete. Just tie a knot in the nylon cord so the cord puller doesn't come off.

A view of the back of the finished chalk bag.

You can play with different colours and fabrics. Once you get the hang of it you can make chalk bags for your friends.

Stick your hand inside and feel that soft fleecy goodness. Now all you have to do is put some chalk inside.

If you liked this, you might also like the rope bag I made for carrying my climbing rope. Sorry, I didn't document this one step-by-step.

Written by Donn Morrison, March 4, 2006