I can’t quite believe that I’m sending my first baby off to overnight camp. It’s only been a few nights, and I do feel a little ache when I think of him being gone, but I know he is having an amazing time, full of new experiences, skills, and friends. It is also a special week to give some extra TLC to our younger ones and for them to spend more time together.

We’re not big into camping (at least not yet!), so a lot of the things on the packing list for camp had to be purchased, and after spending so much money on just one week, I was looking to see if there were at least a few things I could improvise or make.

I ended up making a stuff sack for a sleeping bag we already had, as well as a pouch to hold his meal kit – plate, cup, and utensils. The stuff sack was easy and turned out very well. I think the design of the meal kit has room for improvement, but I’ll note what I did, so I can improve on it next time… can you imagine that some day we might send all three away to camp?! It will be the most expensive staycation ever for mom and dad, but it would be a milestone. I LOVE my kids, but I have to say that I’ve been craving some alone time with hubby, too, as that is terribly scarce these days. Anyway, I digress…

I’m really happy with the material choice for this project. I bought a 100% polyester shower curtain from a discount store for $5.99. The material was perfect for this purpose, some of the edges were already finished, the grommets at the top were perfect for making a drawstring bag, and I still have about half the fabric left. $3 for both both the stuff sack and the meal kit!

Drawstring Stuff Sack for Sleeping Bag

I used:

• 1oo% polyester shower curtain
• nylon cord with toggle. The toggle is optional, but I’m a pack rat and happened to have a drawstring with toggle leftover from something else.

I cut two pieces from the shower curtain:

• The bag is a large 28″x45″ rectangle, with the long side cut from the top of the shower curtain, so the grommets are used (shown below, folded in half).
• The strap is a small 12″x22″ rectangle.

Stuff sack for sleeping bag cut from an inexpensive shower curtain

First, finish the strap by folding it in half length-wise and sewing along the open side and end. I used a straight stitch and also finished the edge with a zig-zag stitch, as this polyester frays very easily. You can see how I finished the strap below.

Sew the strap with a straight stitch and a zig-zag stitch to finish the edges.

Next turn the strap right side out. What I didn’t do here but would recommend is top-stitching all around the outside of the strap, about 1/4″ from the edge to make it lie flatter. When the strap is finished, pin it onto the bag as shown below, leaving about three inches at the top of bottom, and putting some slack in the strap. I sewed it down with multiple rows of stitching to make it secure.

Securely sew the strap to the bag, leaving some slack

Not shown, I then stitched around the side and bottom of the sack, again using a straight stitch and finishing with a zig-zag. To give the sack a more three-dimensional form, I folded the bottom corners so that the side seam lay against the bottom seam and stitched a triangle on the inside bottom of each bottom corner, as shown below.

Sew a triangle at the bottom corners to give the bag a more three-dimensional shape.

Finally, I wove the the cord through the grommets and secured it with the toggle. That wasn’t so hard!

Finished DIY sleeping bag stuff sack from an inexpensive shower curtain.

Pouch to Hold Meal Kit

This pouch was made to hold a 10″ plate, a cup, and utensils. It turned out a bit big, so you could definitely shrink the size of the main bag by at least an inch in both dimensions.

I used:

• 1oo% polyester shower curtain
• Velcro, about 5.5″ total length

I cut two pieces from the shower curtain:

• The main pouch is a large 16″x32″ rectangle (not shown, because you know what a rectangle looks like!)
• The cutlery is a small 6″x11.5″ rectangle, with the corners cut on one of the short ends (shown below).

Cutlery pouch for meal kit

To finish the cutlery pouch,

• Finish one short end of cutlery pouch buy folding down twice and stitching a hem
• Sew 1.5″ strip of Velcro to the inside of the finished end of cutlery pouch on the inside
• Clip corners to reduce bulk, if you didn’t do this already

To finish the bag,

• Hem all sides of the rectangle for the main bag by folding over the edges twice and sewing them down to make a hem.
• Sew 1.5″ strip of Velcro to bag at center about 2″ from top on right side, to match up with the cutlery pouch (first picture below)
• Sew the cutlery pouch to the front of the bag by folding under the edges on three sides (second picture below)
• Sew two 2″ strips of Velcro to the top of the bag opening, as shown in the third picture (outside of front and inside of flap)
• With right sides facing, sew bag together at sides, with a 2″ flap at top (fourth picture below)

Sew velcro to the main bag, and lay down the cutlery pouch, matching up the velcro.

With the velcro matched up, sew the cutlery pouch to the main bag.

Sew strips of velcro to the main bag on the inside of the flap and the outside of the front, as shown.

Pouch for holding camping plate, cup, and utensils, made from an inexpensive shower curtain.

Ready to pack by big kiddo off to camp with these accessories made from a shower curtain for about $3!

Sleeping bag stuffsack and camping meal kit made from an inexpensive shower curtain!

Please let me know if you are trying these projects and want clarification on anything.  I really winged it as I went along, and I’ve been struggling to figure out how to explain what I did in a logical way, but I figured I should just spit it out and post this… Kiddo will be home in just a couple of days!  Yay!

“Jewels”