About The Bags
Hello Salinity! That’s the name of my boat, and the source of the fabric I use to make the up-cycled sailcloth bags. She’s sporting a 131% roller-furling genoa made of dacron with brown canvas sacrificial covering – the colored fabric along the edge of the sail which, when the sail is rolled up (furled), protects the dacron from UV rays. We do this because it’s far easier and cheaper to replace the edge fabric than to make or buy a whole new sail.
Salinity is our 1979 36′ S2 sailboat. And those sails pictured are the original sails and have seen some adventures. Now they are being cut into sections to make totes and bags. Yes, my bags are made of 100% genuine recycled sails. Some bags you find online say they’re from recycled sails, but when they’re that white and crease-free, you know they’ve never been slapping against metal rigging!
Every bag made is slightly unique since the original sail stitching falls in different places. Some bags have unique pockets which I make from the sections of sail where there’s more than one layer of sailcloth, making for a natural location for a pocket.
My bags are 100% hand-made by me personally from my own old sailboat sails which I’ve replaced with brand-new sails I just made.
Making
bags from Recycled Sailcloth
I make all the bags myself. I make my own patterns too. Sometimes a section of the sail “speaks” to me and it tells me what it wants to be – maybe a secret pocket, maybe just an interesting orientation.
I start with the raw sails with the sacrificial (protection from the sun) canvas fabric still on there (in case anyone wants a brown and white bag). I made a pattern for an extra-large tote bag since I carry lots of stuff.
Each tote bag is unique since no two pieces are identical. It makes me feel good to not be contributing to more trash on the planet. Plus, sailcloth fabric is super strong and easy to clean. Granted, it shows it’s wear with some chafing scrapes and stains, but the sailcloth is from 1979 so it’s going to show the evidence of 40 years at sea.
I top it off with custom personalized, embroidered initials.
