From Rags...to Bags

The Jeans Bag

I have (had?) this fantastic pair of jeans at home that, obviously, shrunk in the wash. No matter how long I kept them, or how often I stared at them, they just didn't seem to fit anymore. I think someone sneaks into my room of a night and feeds me calories while I sleep.

Anywho, I really don't like throwing away perfectly good clothing and I've given so much to lifeline that I'm pretty sure they'll be issuing me with a restraining order in the coming weeks. I figured there had to be something useful I could do with these jeans. I could have simply cut them down and used the fabric for toddler clothes, but, I wanted to be more creative. The Jeans Bag was born.

This was such a simple project and took less than two hours to complete. I pretty much made it up as I went, but here's a very rough idea of the steps I took. I think it really depends on the type of jeans as to how you would approach this sort of project. These were hipsters and lacked depth in the body, so I needed to extend them. A normal pair of jeans may not have that issue.

Firstly, I chopped the top of the jeans away from the legs, being careful not to cut through either the front or back pockets, as I wanted these to be used in the final bag.

The top of the jeans becomes the main body of bag

I then measured the bottom of the main piece to determine the size of the bottom of the bag. I cut one leg piece to this size, sliced open on of the long side seams and sewed up the two shorter sides to create a pouch. I sewed this to the bottom of the main piece.

One side seam is removed from the leg piece

Pin and sew the leg piece pouch to the bottom of the main piece

Finally, I took the remaining leg, made a long strip for the strap and sewed it to the bag.

Hey presto, a funky new bag. Even the pockets work!!!

There are so many possibilities with this project. I've definitely been bitten by the upcycling bug so I see many more of these posts in the future. Don't say I didn't warn you.