How to Design & Create Your Own Fanny Pack

Make your own fanny pack out of a pair of slacks

Fanny packs may not be as popular as they were years ago, but they still serve a function during those times you need your hands and shoulders free. Fanny packs are simply pouches that either have an attached strap that fits around the waist or loops to fit on your belt. Creating your own fanny pack lets you design a product that works best for your purposes.

Things You'll Need

• Material, jeans or slacks
• Sewing supplies
• Stapler
• Glue
• Interlocking fabric tabs and strips
• Interlocking fabric glue
• 1-1/2-inch wide webbing or nonfraying material

Instructions

1. Save the legs of a pair of jeans or slacks that you either plan to throw out or cut off to make shorts. Jeans provide a rugged fanny pack while slacks provide a nicer, more upscale look.

2. Cut off the leg 12 inches up from the bottom. The raw edge will become the bottom of the fanny pack. How much you cut off depends upon how deep you want the pack.

3. Cut less for a smaller pack. Instead of slacks or jeans, use the wide sleeves of a blouse, a hand towel, which already has finished end seams, or use material of your choice. Simply turn over raw edges, and sew or glue to make a seam similar to the hem of the slacks. Then seam up the side into a tube.

4. Turn pouch inside out. Sew the open raw edges together. Make two seams 1/2 inch apart to make sure the bottom will hold once you fill it up. If you do not sew, fasten edges together with two rows of staples. Make them close together. You don't want your keys escaping.

5. Add a thin layer of material glue before stapling or sewing edges together for added security. Turn right side out. You now have a long pouch.

6. Fold over the top. Decide how you wish the pack to fold and how far. The hem becomes the opening of your fanny pack. The open section folds over to secure the contents.

7. Add interlocking strips onto the face of the fanny pack and onto the top portion of the fold. Make these strips the "soft" side of the interlocking strips. Use a long "rough-hooked" strip that you attach to the top fold, and use to connect to the bottom strip. Open the pouch by detaching from the lower strip.

8. Turn over the pack and, 3 inches from either side, add belt loops wide enough to fit over the belts you plan to use. Make two because one belt loop will not hold the fanny pack secure. You can sew on two strips of 1-1/2-inch wide webbing or nonfraying material for loops. Your fanny pack is now usable.

9. Add designs to make the fanny pack your own. Use fabric paint, iron-on patches or embroidery to create patterns or designs on your fanny pack. Permanent markers work for lighter colored material. The key is to plan your design on paper before trying it on your pack.

References

• Locked Cog; DIY Hip Pouch; November 11, 2010
• Style Bytes; DIY: Fanny Pack; July 13, 2006

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish