Back again! Are you bored with me yet?

That’s good, because it looks like I’m only getting started … seems like I have been bitten by the “bag bug” and have made another. My sister gave me a box of upholstery fabric (the cat “Sophie” is all mine) and I made my first bag with fabrics from it, my tote bag, which I have been using everyday to lug my possessions onto the bus to work and back again. That bag’s big enough to carry my laptop, just to give you an idea of the size. You can read all about that one here, if you wish!

Next I thought I might try a zippered cross-body bag. Smaller, but not too small that I can’t fit my iPad in it.

All my pieces are planned, measured, cut and fused with either fleece or interfacing.

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The “ins” and the “outs” of my new Tote bag … and a few lessons learned!

Perhaps you read last week about my trashed (store-bought) Tote bag and the start of my journey to replace it? If you missed it, you can read Part I here!

I’ve been busy this week, learned a lot, and ended up with a great Tote bag – despite the “help” offered to me by My Feline Family Members!

I finished off my lining by measuring and sewing in the corners.

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A simple, but necessary project! (And my #reSEWlutions!)

Perhaps you have seen these photos on my Instagram account? It seems I can’t crochet in peace – Simon will steal my ball of yarn away and Sophie will play with the length of yarn. This calls for a simple, but necessary project!

Perhaps you have seen this advertisement on Facebook or Instagram? This is an excellent idea, unfortunately I couldn’t get past the upside down trees on the zipper side of the bag.

So I decided to make my own.

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What can I say? I still had some denim strips left!

And I’m certainly not one to waste recycled denim! So let’s make another bag. This one is not quite big enough to hold my iPad, not like the last one I made. This one seemed to go together quicker too! Perhaps it wasn’t as “fancy” or perhaps I’m actually getting used to throwing them together?!?

Again, I started by sewing my strips together, pressing them, ironing on the fusible interfacing, and trimming the two outer bag walls to the right size.

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How to sew a recycled denim handbag. Part 2

Back again! To recap last week’s post … I wanted to make myself a 100% recycled denim bag, using denim strips like those bags I saw on Pinterest. Last week I cut up my denim jeans, pieced and sewed the strips together and fused on the interfacing for my outer bag walls. I sewed the pockets and the zipper pocket on my bag lining. I sewed the bag strap. I did my topstitching – I love topstitching and Amber, my Singer 421G was a work horse!

This week, I continued on. I prepped the opening zipper, cutting it to the right length and topstitching the zipper tabs on the ends. I switched from the brown zipper to this blue one as it fit around my iPad just right.

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How to sew a recycled denim handbag.

I was trying to think of an eye-catching, mysterious title for my blog post. I couldn’t. I have too been immersed in bag making lately – sewing creatively, instead of blogging creatively!

The only other handbags I’ve made I posted about here and here. I made one of them for my sister – she’s seems to be happy with it. I made her’s by copying something she already had.

This time I wanted to make a handbag for myself out of 100% recycled materials, specifically denim. I have been collecting a few images on my Pinterest and I’m quite inspired by this recycled denim Chobe Bag with the denim strips sewn together.