3 Easy DIY Bag Ideas for Carrying Your Phone

When I see an item like the Apple Pocket costs up to $230, I immediately look to see if I could make something myself, for less. And using what I have in my stash, I usually can!

So here’s three different styles of DIY bags for your phone that you can make for nothing or very little indeed.

Tools and materials: 

• Long-sleeved top
• 2 placemats
• 2 shoulder pads
• 2 tie belts
• Fabric marker
• Scissors
• Pinking shears
• Sewing machine

1. Placemat pocket

I thrifted these placemats for very little, then realised they’re not all the same size.

The two smallest are close enough to the same size to use for this project.

I sourced this old fabric belt from my stash to use as the carrying strap. It always pays to keep these if you get them with thrifted dresses as they have so many uses as trims or handles.

The first thing I did was overlap the two ends of the belt and stitch them together to make a large loop.

I pinned the join of the strap to the center of the lower edge of one placemat on the wrong side. Then I pinned the strap around the bottom and two side edges of the placemat. 

I sewed the strap in place, using two rows of a straight stitch and leaving a space on the top edge large enough to take my phone.

I put the other placemat on top and sewed it to the inner edge of the strap in the same way.

I had planned to use the bag with the crocheted trim on the outside, but once I’d finished putting it together I realised I preferred it the other way around, so I flipped it inside out.

The finished bag is big enough to take a tablet if I wanted to, and it's comfortable to wear on my shoulder or as a crossbody bag.

2. Shoulder pad bag

For this version of the DIY phone bag, you need two large shoulder pads and another fabric belt.

These pads are huge, larger than my hand. Before you do any sewing, check that yours are wide enough or deep enough to hold your phone.

This was the easiest bag of the three.

You’ll see that one side of each pad is more thickly padded than the other. 

I placed the two shoulder pads together with the thicker sides facing each other, and stitched two rows around the curved edge.

I sewed the ends of the strap over the side seams on the inside of the bag. 

The most secure way I know of doing this is to stitch a square or rectangle and then sew across both diagonals.

It took me less than 30 minutes to make this sturdy, padded DIY bag for my phone.

Stitch both open ends closed. I used a double row of straight stitches and then sewed a row of zigzag stitches over them, to retain some elasticity.

On the chopped end, I trimmed the seam with my pinking shears to prevent fraying.

To make the opening, fold the sleeve in half lengthways. 

Place your phone lengthways at the narrow end and mark about 1 1/2” (4 cm) from the bottom of the phone.

Starting about 2 inches (5 cm) from the wide end, sketch out half an oval or elongated semi-circle shape on the folded edge of the sleeve.

Cut out the shape through all layers.

Open out the sleeve. Turn the cut edges of the opening to the wrong side twice and stitch them in place, to make a double hem.

I also rounded off the wider edge and trimmed the excess.

Turn the pocket right side out.

My phone fits perfectly in the narrow end.