I timed the making of the bag because I'm going to do a program at guild for it. From cutting to finishing it took me 2 1/2" hours. The first bag took me about 5 hours because I kept having to rip out the casings to find my elastic end. I'm not good at reading how to do something, I need to see it. Both my DDs have requested a bag for themselves to tote their swimming stuff this summer.