Sewing up a sandbag

[texasmfp]

Hey:
I bought a bunch of empty sandbags from Matthews, fiiled them with sand and temporarily taped off the portion that was not already sewn shut. I brought it to a shoe repair shop thinking that they had strong enough needles and thread to sew the sandbag shut. Didn't work!
Has anybody else gone through this? Can you give me advice on sewing the bag shut? Any specific company or a type of company that can handle this? Anybody do it themselves? If so, what machine, needle, thread did you use? Thanks

 

[Capt Quirk]

I would put the sand inside some sort of bladder first, whether it be a plastic bag or sealed off inner tube. You keep it dry, and it won't leak out of the bag. Then you can fold the bag's end over, and sew that thoroughly with heavy thread used for sewing saddles.

 

[FrankC]

I've purchased "Travel" sandbags that are meant to travel empty, filled at location, emptied for return travel. They use a multiple velcro seal system and have never leaked.