Ball bags are very trendy. You can easily recycle old basketballs /soccer balls into something new and useful. This is a really good project for that burst ball you were going to throw away!

Today I will be showing you how to make a cool soccer ball bag. Hope you enjoy this tutorial and let me know if you try making your own!

Supplies

You will need:

soccer ball/football or basketball
zipper
Scissors
hot glue gun
chain (or rope/ belt if you prefer that for your strap)
marker (not permanent- so you can wipe off once you've finished)
ruler
screw and nut x2 (you need to find a small one that can fit through your chain and eyelet
Leather hole-punch (or use scissors if you don't have one)
eyelets x2
snacks/drinks (to keep you energised and hydrated as you complete this fun project)

Step 1: Measuring and Cutting

First, you going to put the zipper onto the ball where you want your opening.

Get two pieces of tape and stick the ends of the zipper onto the ball. Then stick it onto the area of the ball you want your zipper to be. Mark one side of the zipper with a marker, make sure that you mark 1cm less on each end so that the zipper fits in properly.

Cut on the line using scissors or a craft knife. Measure 1cm wide then draw another line and cut it out.

You should end up with an opening 1cm wide and the length of your zipper (minus 2cm)

Step 2: Inserting the Eyelets

Mark 3cm, away from both ends of the opening.

Once you've done that on both ends, you are going to use a leather hole punch (if you don't have a hole punch or eyelets then you can use scissors or a craft knife to make a hole but the bag will not be able to carry as much weight as the ball may tear without the eyelets).

Make sure your screw fits through your eyelet and chain nicely but so the head of the screw can't fall through. (I found the perfect sized screws from a kids' building set).

Place the eyelet into the hole and use the hole punch to fix it into place.

Repeat for both sides of the chain.

Step 3: The Chain/strap

Put one screw through the link at each end of the chain, then put it through the eyelet, and on the inside screw on the nut tightly (using a small spanner and screwdriver if needed). I found a necklace chain with a cute apple on it.

If you want to use a leather strap instead you can cut that to size and add an eyelet to each end and then screw it on. Alternatively, you can use a rope/ shoelace (measure to the length you want your strap to be then add about 6cm to account for the knots) that you can thread through the eyelet and then secure tightly with a knot inside to attach it to the bag.

Step 4: The Zipper

Before glueing the zipper in, you can colour on the cut lines with a marker (to make the edge look neater).

Glue zipper on to the inside of the cut with the hot glue gun. Glue the inside of the ball where the cut is rather than putting glue on the zipper as this will make it easier to attach the zipper. Be quick here otherwise, the glue will dry before the zipper is attached.

(If you don't have a glue gun you can use any strong glue/adhesive but give it extra time to fully dry once the zipper is attached)