Upcycled Denim Tote Bag
I'm back with another bag, this time a tote bag without a zipper. Zipper bags are cool, actually I prefer a zipper bag but monotony is not something I enjoy, so I had to make something different this time.
Because it's Monday, this is my entry to #needleworkmonday challenge, founded by @crosheille and hosted by @muscara, @shanibeer and @marblely.
Fabrics Used
Again, I'm working with jeans as it's the best so far for me. I love a good quality jeans. This was good quality but a little bit strange. I'm sorry for forgetting to take a photo of the jeans at the beginning.
It had a wide, ugly, elastic, belt like part that needed to go. Otherwise the quality was excellent.
For lining I used an s'Oliver shirt, a dark brown, unfortunately the light was not suitable and you can't see the true color but there will be other photos later in this post, so hang on.
The Magic
The bottom part of each one is saved as I have a project for that, just need to collect as many as I can.
This was trapeze style, which I truly hate when it comes to my pants but this is a different matter. If I'm not taking apart the fabric, I can lose a good part of it because of the trapeze style but there's a solution for everything. I used one of the pieces upside down to complement the missing part and thus I was able to save some fabric.
And here it is. The line is not straight but who said it has to be straight.
When I detached the pocket, I was left with a whole that basically ruined my chance to use the upper part of the jeans. Therefore I decided to use it for the carry straps.
After putting together the front, back and carry straps, I could hardly resist not to use the pocket, so here it is, pocket applied. It was too nice not to use it.
The lining was pretty easy, even though I had to use a few tricks to get the desired piece.
Like this one. This is why the lines don't match but who cares, it makes it more interesting.
This is the piece for my famous 3 compartment pocket.
This is the perfect size even for a phone.
I wanted to keep the s'Oliver logo of the shirt and basically made my job more harder. At least the pocket turned out ok.
I'm learning 😁
What came next was a nightmare (kind of). I wanted a tote bag but with some kind of lock as in my country if something is not locked, it disappears in a split second. There are magnets for bags but the lockdown makes it impossible to get any right now. There's a website I intend to order from but that's going to be only next week.
After a few days of thinking and weighing options, I came up with the idea of using a button. I've got a few Esprit buttons that match the fabric perfectly. So I just had to figure it out how to use it.
Finally got the solution and here's the process. I used this piece of fabric to make an ear for the button.
Had to use interfacing to make it resistant.
This is how it looked after putting together the bag and the lining.
And here it is.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Could sell it but may as well end up keeping it as I love it. It's big enough for everything. There's plenty of time to decide.
Check out my other sewing posts: