Bags from Jeans

On Monday, I taught a workshop on how to make a Reusable Bag from Recycled Jeans. The theme of the Adult Learner's week was Being Green. Or something similar.

Okay, to me this is not rocket science. But anyway. So I was surprised that this was a new idea for the students.

Here is the completed bag.

and an option with lace trim.

Here are a few of the in progress bags being made.

What was interesting was trying to work out the best plan for jeans that weren't straightforward.

This bag needed an extra base at the bottom. The original jeans were fairly big so without the base, everything would have fallen out each time you set the bag down.

These jeans had belonged to the lady's daughter. So to cut across the crutch would have made something rather small. So, we worked out how to open up the legs and sew them together front and back first, before sewing across the bottom. The jeans had a gathered band at the bottom of the legs, so those made handles that were a bit smaller yet still worked.

One of the other ladies had never used a sewing machine. But she hand sews and does crafts, so she had some idea of how fabric works at least. So, it is not the easiest thing to begin on a machine sewing denim! But she did very well. I had to get her over the seam sections once or twice, but for the most part she just had to be shown a bit of stitching and she was off!

I told her if she does take a beginner sewing class don't use this class as an example of doing it right. We were using the chop, chop, sew, sew method - with rulers for those who felt they needed some control. A bit of make it up as you go along. Well, for me, that is the best way when you are recycling a garment. It is not going to fit the rules in the first place, so you may as well forget them when you start. Much less frustration!!

So they all went off with bags finished or nearly finished. and several started thinking what else they could do with some of their old clothes! Oh, and most of them collected a bit of lace trim to fancy up their bags as well!