Skirt to Bag: A Tutorial and Giveaway

I just love making old things into new things, don't you? Before I ever throw anything out, I'm always asking myself how I could possibly re-vamp it to make it useful again. And I adore seeing re-made old things when I shop; there's just all sorts of cleverness out there when it comes to making something from another thing! Here's my take on it today, using an old skirt and some fabric scraps.

Please forgive the highly random image-quality here. The photos were taken over the course of the day (so I lost my natural light) and I believe some children who shall remain nameless kept changing the camera's settings ... :)

Okay, so first I took an old ill-fitting skirt, and hacked the bottom off to be used elsewhere (I'm adding a ruffle to the bottom of a too-short but super-cute skirt, but that's another project):



And a couple blocks of cute fabric (these are about 14.5" x 11"):


I laid the fabric on top of the skirt and trimmed the skirt down to size:


Like this:



Then I noticed that the top of the skirt was curved. So I curved the top of the fabric pieces, too:



Next, I took a scrap of a different fabric (simply because I didn't have enough of the first one ... but they look alright together, right?) and cut two pieces to the size I wanted the inside pocket to be (they ended up to be 11" x 7"):


To make the pocket, I sewed the pieces right-sides together, leaving an opening for turning. Then I clipped the corners, turned right-side out, pressed, and stitched the pocket to the lining, using the open end as the bottom so that stitching it to the lining would close the opening:

Later, I realized that the pocket was placed entirely too low, and had to dismantle and reposition. I do stuff like that all the time, though, so it was only a minor frustration ... :) The waistband on this skirt had a little flap on the inside that I could attach the top of the lining to, tucking it under the flap and then stitching across:

(I totally left the tag on ...
it's a reminder that this bag used to be something completely different.
And that makes me happy :)

With outside right-sides together, sew it all together around the sides and bottom, like this:


Much later, after the bag was all done, my good friend and fellow Praiseworthy blogger, Jen, suggested adding some bias tape to finish up the raw edges. So I did, but I'll put the photos here because this is where that step should go:


Next comes the shoulder strap, which I made by cutting a piece of fabric 5" x width-of-fabric. I kept it long to start with because I wasn't sure how long I wanted it to end up. Then I folded it in half, stitched along the long edge, turned and pressed with the seam in the middle, like this:


To make the strap more substantial, I cut a piece of quilt batting 2" x really-really-long and slid it into the strap through an open end:



Then I cut it to the length I wanted, pressed it, and sewed lines along the length to keep the batting in place:


Next, I wanted a way to close the bag, so I took a piece of excess strap and cut it down to a nice size, rounded one end and stitched it closed:


Then I turned the closure piece and pressed it, stitched around the edge, and fished out my sewing machine manual to try and remember how to make a button-hole. Once that was done, I turned the open end in, and stitched the closure strap to the inside of the bag, like this:


Added a button and the straps, hiding the inside raw edges at the top of the bag as I did so:



And ... done!


I purposely made the closure strap a little too long like that, so that the bag could be closed when full, like this:

(It's a hardback copy of Don Delillo's "Underworld",
in case you were wondering what's inside ... )

And here's how it hangs. And yes, the fabric I used for the pocket and straps is the same as my curtains. I just adore that fabric! :)



Hooray, a new bag! Do you like it? Would you like it? Because I want to give it to you. Leave a comment below and tell me where you would shop if time and distance and money and small children were not an object, and I'll draw a random name out of a hat (or a bowl ... or a bag ... maybe *this* bag!) on Friday (that's March 12, say, around noon pacific time?). I'll post the winner soon thereafter.