upcycle – Simply Made Kitchen and Crafts

Upcycled Travel Tote
When I have time, I love to visit resale shops and garage sales to find objects that I can incorporate in my sewing projects. I often buy old backpacks and purses just to cut out the closures and fasteners for other projects. I sometimes buy resale clothes with great looking buttons, only to cut them off and use the buttons to make some of my less expensive clothes look more expensive.
For this tote, I made the actual bag out of pre-quilted fabric that I found at Good Will. I filled the inside of the tote with fasteners and pockets to hide trinkets and valuables that M might need during her travels. Around the top edge of the bag, I stitched a trim that was originally found at the hem of a pair of capri pants that I bought at a garage sale. After all that, I used my embroidery machine to personalize the tote. M seems to love this colorful bag and she smiles when others ask her where she bought it. She proudly replies, “My mom made it especially for me”!

I must admit, this is not a newly completed project. I was cleaning out my closets yesterday and I stumbled across this denim bag that I had made months ago. I looked it over and was pleased that I was able to use a junior-sized pair of jeans to make such a darling purse. Like most of you, I am always looking to repurpose things that are past their usefulness in their current state.
About a year ago, while packing up clothes to send to the local resale shop, I found these jeans in my daughter’s drawer. She hadn’t worn them in a while for she had grown and their length was halfway up her ankles. That afternoon, I snipped the legs off at the crotch and rummaged through my trims and sewing notions to try to find the best pieces to adorn my new bag. I had purchased a few clear handbag handles on clearance at JoAnn Fabrics and was thrilled to tack them on to the waistband with a few quick stitches. I really only had one seam to sew across the bottom of the bag. All that was left was to string glittery coordinating ribbon through the belt loops at the waist, glue and stitch on a few embellishments, and voila, a cute-as-a-button handbag was born!