Old Jeans to Bag

Remember my Old Jeans to Skirt project?
 

The jeans I used for this skirt was a little tight and after months of hoping that I will lose weight (without really doing anything) so that I can finally wear it... I just decided to take my seam ripper to remove the fabric I added and attach it to another pair ofjeanc that's I've cut. One that actually fit.

(edited August 30, 2011 to add photo)

Yey! I can wear it now! :)

So that left me with this:

 

What to do? What to do? Hmmm...

I know! A bag! I've seen a few projects that turned old jeans into bags before and I've always wanted to try it. 

However, this part I was left with was a little small. I decided to add more fabric at the bottom to make it bigger. And here is what I came up with.

I used the same color thread to attach the bottom and stitched 2 lines to match the rest of the jeans.

 

Stitches aren't very straight, I know. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

I used a zipper for the first time too!

Stitches were a little wonky but after I was done, I didn't want to rip the stitches to fix it anymore. Most important thing for me was that it opens and closes... since it does, I'm good :)

I had a difficult time attaching the lining. I think this part took the most time. I wanted the stitches to fall under the waistband of the jeans so they won't be so obvious. And I was attaching the zipper the same time I was attaching the lining. I can't describe what I was doing very well. And this was the point I decided to give up on trying to prepare a tutorial (yes, I was trying to prepare a tutorial for you guys..  maybe next time when I've had more practice). I had to rip the stitches several times and do it over. But after several tries... and several hours of work (like around 6 hours total of just trying to attach the lining)... I was done. Hooray!

I used red fabric because initially, I was planning to use the handles from an old bag I already have. Those handles were red synthetic leather. However, upon close checking, some parts of those handles were already cracking so I decided not to use them. Instead I used these:

You know how some bags come with 2 detachable hanDles One short and one long? My mom has a bunch those from old bags she doesn't even have anymore. She gave me a plastic bag full of them and I found a short black one. I simply attached them to the belt loop (I had to Google to find out that those are called, haha! I just realized I didn't know... we call them "sinturera" here in the Philippines and I think that's a Spanish term. You get a piece of trivia today :).

For the other handle, I used an old thin black belt. I attached metal rings on the 2 belt loops in front and slipped one end of the belt, folded the belt around the chain link and used needle and black thread to sew the 2 layers of the black belt together to secure it. After that, I measured the length of belt I needed to match the other handle, cut off the excess, and did the same on the other end.

The belt I used is a little narrower than the handle on the other end but you can't really notice the difference. I also thought about making handles out of the same fabric I used for the bottom of the bag but I thought that using synthetic leather on the handles will make the bag look just a little bit less home made :)

Here's how it looks from the  back:

I love that my bag has a lot of pockets from the front and back pockets of the jeans. And you can see the spots where I removed the jeans tag and former position of the belt loops before I adjusted their position.

Happy with the result and I'm glad that's over. Sewing with denim isn't one of my favorite things, I discovered :)

I am linking up to the following parties:

Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Thrifty Thursday at Saved By Love Creations | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Show and Share at Southern Lovely | DIY Diva Thursday at Mine for the Making | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baad Sunday at Lamb Around | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Ta-Da Tuesday at Mommy by Day Crafter by Night | Take-A-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesdays at Lady Bug Blessings | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Tuesday To Do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Confessional at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Shabby Shares Saturday Link Party at Rustic Crafts |