this is one of the umbrella bags i made, which started me sewing again. when this umbrella broke i wanted to make something with the lovely red fabric, and a shopping bag was the obvious choice. Lightweight, foldable to fit into the tiniest handbag, and quite sturdy. My friends liked it and gave me the fabric of their broken umbrellas (it's windy and rainy over here) to make them bags too. It's really easy, you sew four triangles of the umbrella to a tube, sew one side shut and make a neat hem on the other. cut handles from a 5th triangle or use ribbon. you can fold and sew along the bottom edges to shape the bottom of the bagand some small purses
