From Denim Skirt to Denim Bag

One of the local Op Shops was having a sale and  I could not walk away from this bargain, a denim skirt for $1 and the two belts for $1. I also got another two belts thrown in for nothing and a childs denim/chambray skirt for 50 cents. My immediate thought was a denim bag, the skirt would never ever fit me.

This is what you need to make a bag


A skirt, it is long enough to make a big slouchy bag and has great pockets on the back as well as the front.














The belts, same design but different colours, but close enough. They are also wide which will make a good strap for the bag and by joining them it will be adjustable.





and this is how to do it

Work out the length that you want the bag to be, mine was 40 cm, allow seam allowance. Cut away excess.

Seam along the seam line. I do two rows of stitching and then zig zag the seam edges.


At this stage you can leave the bag as a flat bag or with a little more work you can create a base.

I like my bags to have a base so I create these corners by centreing the stitched bottom and easing out the sides into a triangle. Pin and then measure from the point of the triangle down, mine was 5cm, draw a line and stitch and then stitch them.

Position the strap so that it is diagonal from the back left corner to the right front corner. There was plenty of strap so I decided to stitch it to the outside of the waistband and allow the end of the belt, with the D rings drop into the pocket. as you can see perfect for the keys. The back strap is stitched inside the waistband.






Sew the belts onto the skirt, making sure that you are not trying to stitch through to many layers. Adjust the position of the straps to avoid the side seams and belt loops. I go around  in a square and then double stitch the top and sometimes stitch diagonally from corner to corner



I decided not to line this bag. I wanted it to be as light as possible and able to be washed and dried as if it was a pair of jeans.

If you want the bag to be lined all that is needed is to make a matching sized fabric liner that is a few centimetres longer.  Turn the top edge over so that folded onto the wrong side and then insert lining into the bag. The wrong sides should be together so that the lining is facingout.Pin and machine stitch it into place. You may have to hand sew at the fly if their is a stud fastener.