Add water bottle holders to a fanny pack

{photo: Add water bottle holders to a fanny pack © ShannonSorensen}

Sometimes I embarrass myself. Sometimes the thrifty-crafty-I-can-make-it-myself side takes over and I should hide my head in shame, but instead I share my faux-pas on the internet.

Since taking up biking, I've needed a fanny pack with water bottle holders for long rides. Many of the good ones are a little pricey and don't have 2 water bottle carriers, so I've been left toting a heavy backpack. Ugh.

In a *frenzied moment* when I was due to go out on the bike in 15 minutes and couldn't bare the thoughts of lugging a heavy backpack again, I grabbed whatever I had on hand (enter: thrifted shower curtain loops + elastic) and slapped this baby together. And I do mean slapped.

It wasn't my best work by any means (mismatched fabric, thread and elastic) and I'm a little embarrassed when "real bikers" pass me and pray they don't laugh at my DIY fanny pack bottle holders, but it did the job. Who needs dignity anyway, when you're wearing biking shorts that feel like a big adult diaper? At least I'd be hydrated.

Here are some quick how-to's:

Add water bottle holders to a fanny pack

{photo:  © ShannonSorensen}

What I did, in the hurried / thrifty version was to cut loops off the top of a thrifted fabric shower curtain to use as the bottle slings, and elastic to secure the water bottles. In my perfect version, I would have used coordinating fabric or nylon webbing (like backpack straps) + matching elastic.

1. Determine the length of your slings.
If there are water bottles you use most often, measure their length to determine how long you need your slings to be. The elastic will help make up for differences in width, but if your bottles are longer, you'll need longer strips for your slings.

2. Cut strips of coordinating fabric for your sling strips. Choose fabric or material that coordinates with your fanny pack or use nylon webbing (like backpack straps). The sling length should be a little over 1/2 to 3/4 the length of your water bottle. The width should be about 1-1/2 inches or more.

3. Sew one end of your sling strip to the waist belt of your fanny pack.

4. Cut 4 pieces of coordinating elastic. Two for each side. Measure the length of elastic by wrapping it around your water bottles and cut it so it fits snug.

{photo © ShannonSorensen}

5. Sew the elastic to the sling strips - 1 about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom and the 2nd at the top of the sling strip which you will also attach to the waist band of the fanny pack.

And that's about it. It really doesn't take a lot of time and has been a life saver on longer bike rides.

Every time I use this water-bottle-toting-fanny-pack the gunslinger song from old westerns goes through my head and I feel like spinning my water bottles and tossing them back in the holsters.