To be honest, I never heard the term ‘Dopp Bag’ until I stumbled across some tutorials online and put my hand (err…sewing machine) to the test. I always called them ‘toiletry bags’, and in the sailing world ‘Ditty Bags’, but according to Wikipedia  – the term Dopp kits in the 70’s with a head tilt toward Charles Doppelt, a German leather craftsman who made them in the early 1900’s and managed to land a contract with the US army.

Turns out they are a lot of fun to make, especially out of waxed canvas which has a great patina like leather without all the baggage (no pun intended) of leather.  I have been able to put them use as gifts, organizers on my boat, and as items in my etsy store.

I found that I could also scale up the dimensions – and using some high-quality mesh (anti-microbial!) – can make nice gear bags for storing wet gear etc.  Fun fact – doubling the dimensions doesn’t mean it is twice as big – it is four times bigger! (a math fact I had managed to forget since school). Hoping to someday make some triangular shaped mesh bags for stowing gear in the bow of my kayak.