If I had only discovered wine bags sooner! Over the years you master wine storage on a sailboat. Each boat is unique for storage offerings and it takes time to get a system that works. Aka beer goes there, hard alcohol goes over there, mixes, wine, …pop etc. But at the end of the day when you’re getting ready for a cruise you’ll likely have a large number of wine bottles, …there’s a glass of wine with lunch, happy hour, dinner, and not to mention hosting friends who happen to stop by!
We have found some great places to store wine on our boat, but to avoid bottles clanging I’ve always kept each bottle in a paper bag. Liquor store staff always look at me funny when I say no thank you to a box and instead ask for each bottle to be put in a paper bag, but there’s logic behind it!
The other year I was given a bottle of wine as a gift in a simple fabric bag. Yes I’ve seen those pretty all dolled up fabric wine bags, but this was a simple but very nice fabric bag. …a bag that I could envision storing wine bottles on my boat!
A trip to the fabric shop and I selected two flannel fabrics, offering a little more padding for the storage. Why get one pattern when you can get one pattern for your light wine (rose, white, champagne etc) and one for your red wines. I selected a lighter pattern for my light wine and a canadian goose pattern for my red wines. …a later project will be find another pattern for hard alcohol. Different patterns may seem excessive, but when you’re looking down into your wine storage, at least this way you can quickly identify the lights wines and the reds.
Never having sewn a wine bag before I browsed the internet for a quick how to for ideas on how to sew it. I found a site a blog post that liked that made a square box at the bottom. They had sewn a fancy two layered wine bag which was no interest to me, but I liked the basic design.
Wanting a wine bag that was both somewhat stylish but also practical, I decided to add a drawstring at the top. This way had the option to draw it in at the top. I considered buying the spring loaded clip, but in the end just went with tying a knot. It seemed excessive to buy a spring loaded for each wine bag when I wasn’t sure if it was really necessary.
I experimented with different sizes, but in the end preferred the wine bag pattern to be 14” by 18”. This allows for some seam allowances and some give in the bag for a bottle of champagne per say ; )
Wine Bag Supplies
- One 14 X 18 inch piece of fabric
- Coordinating thread
- Small coordinating rope
Sew a 1/2 inch seam allowance along the 18 inch side of the fabric, this will be the hight of the wine bag. Along the 14 inch side, fold the fabric down 1 inch and sew as close to the edge as possible, creating the space for your drawstring rope.
Fold the fabric in half with the right sides facing each other and sew a 1/2 inch seam along the bottom, and along the side, stopping short a couple inches. Leaving it open at the top makes it easier to get the wine bottles in and out of the wine bags.
To help the bottles stand up nicely in the wine bag, I sewed a box bottom. One corner at a time, pinch the corner and fold it over the seam. Measure about 1 1/2 inches in and sew horizontally across the bottom. For a clean bottom, then cut off extra fabric in the corners after your horizontal line.
Your bag is now sewn! Turn the bag right side out and using a safety pin, pull your rope through the opening at the top to make your drawstring. Once the rope is through the top and you have it a length you like, put a simple knot at the end and you’re done! You have a wine bag for your boat!
Super happy with my new wine bags. An easy sewing project to complete, resulting in a better way for me to easily stack my wine bottles while preventing breakages! Once you tackle wine bags, have some fun and sew winch covers!
Happy boat drinking!