Make a Reusable Lunch Bag Out of Duct Tape

Duct Tape, or “duck tape,” if you’re using that popular brand of tape, is so much fun for crafting. This past spring, I saw a news report about how high school students used it to create prom dresses and tuxedoes. While I have never been that elaborate with my duct tape use, I’ve done my share of experimentation.

Now that kids are in back to school mode, I thought I’d present this super easy idea for turning duct tape into a reusable lunch bag. The key is creating pieces of “fabric” out of the tape, and instead of sewing the fabric together, you just assemble the pieces with more tape. 

Maybe next year I’ll tackle the duct tape tuxedo. You know I’d rock it.

What you’ll need:

Roll of duct tape
Pen
Ruler/straight edge
Scissors

1. Cut a strip of duct tape that’s about 24 inches and position it face up. Then add additional strips of tape, overlapping each strip by about a quarter inch, to create a large piece of duct tape.

2. Cut more strips and position them face down on top of the large piece of duct tape, again overlapping each strip by about a quarter inch. I made a two-sided piece of tape that was 22×16 inches.

3. Cut the four sides of the bag and the bottom. I made the front and back 10×5 inches and the sides 10×3 inches. The bottom was 5×3 inches. You can make the bag  smaller or larger depending on your preference.

4. Line the pieces up with the bottom. 

5. Tape all the sides to each other using more pieces of duct tape. Be sure to tape both the inside and outside edges.

6. Decorate the bag with pieces of duct tape in a coordinating color.

Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at jonathanfongstyle.com.