#Upcycled Initiative And A New Upcycled Denim Bag Made Of Bits And Pieces

Those of you who are reading my posts know that I've been involved in upcycling fabric by making bags. This is a brand new hobby of mine that is keeping me busy all day every day. I can't say I'm a pro as I've been learning to sew since the beginning of March, basically I've got one month of experience, which is nothing in this field but I love it and see it as a long term hobby that can be more than just a hobby in the future.

Apart from creating new thing using my sewing machine, I'm focusing on #upcycling fabrics and accessories that are not in use anymore. I believe in #recycling, #upcycling, #reusing, #repurposing, giving things a second life and not just to stop waste, which is also key here, but to create art in a certain way.

Upcycled Initiative

After running a search on Hive that came up with nothing, I thought it's time to do a post, a shoutout to see if there are others who are upcycling products and objects. The #needleworkmonday and #needlework community may be of help, yarn can be reused and repurposed, fabrics as well. If you're reading my post and doing upcycling work, please use the tag. I'd love to be able to click on the tag and see some amazing projects.

New Upcycled Denim Bag Made Of Bits And Pieces

After a few bags, this week I thought it's time to do something else, I mean to try doing a different design, using all the pieces I have left with from the other bags. Lucky me, I still have a few pair of jeans to work with till the 30 day lockdown ends. However, no one can guarantee it's not going to be extended. So I thought let's see what I can do with these leftovers.

The Process

While other bags usually are based on a video tutorial that not only gives you the measurements but also shows you the whole process, this one was totally freestyle or without any plan. The first step was to assess what I have.

Chaos is the keyword I could use here but what seems to be chaos for others, is a goldmine for me.

These are the leftovers I tried to piece together in order to create something useful.

Having no design, pattern or stencil to follow may give you the impression that you're free to do whatever you want but don't let yourself fooled, like me 😁. The first few pieces were easy but then finding the right size and color became harder and harder.

Lack of experience made it even harder, not that I'm complaining. This was like a puzzle game, a hard one.

To make my own job even harder, I decided to make the upper part of the bad uneven, one wider and the other narrow.

This wouldn't be a problem but when I designed the carry straps I forgot about it and had to redo one to be longer than the other one.

To add to it, when I sewed the new trap to the upper part, I forgot that it's longer and only used the usual sewing technique. Lucky me I noticed in time and corrected it pretty nicely.

Looks Better When Finished

You can see on the second photo, the carry straps have two sets of rectangles, which can be a good thing as well, and doesn't look so bad after all.

The lining is simple white-gray striped fabric and I opted for my usual 3 pocket set.

The other side is plain and simple because I forgot to add the other pocket and was too late when I realized it was missing. Not that 3 pockets are not enough but why waste a good pocket, right?

The measurements size of the bag is 30 x 24 x 11. You can use it on both sides, depending on which shoulder you're wearing your bag usually.

About The Experience

Creating this bag took me twice the time I'm usually spending with a regular bag but I don't regret it, not for a minute. This is a learning curve, I'm testing everything and this is part of it. This was way harder than it looked at first.

Can't say anything about the outcome as hat's for others to decide but I'm proud of it and would wear it any time, any day. The best thing about it is that it's unique, there's no other bag like this and will be no other bag like this. No way me or anyone else can make a similar bag 😁

I'm going to sell it once the lockdown is over and already curious about the feedback I'm going to get. My plan is to make as many as possible during lockdown. Even though it seems far, Christmas is coming and I need to be prepared till then.

Feel free to give me a feedback in a comment and if you're into upcycling, don't forget to use the tag.