An Upcycled 555 Village Courier Bag
Upcycling in sewing makes so much sense. There is a huge amount of clothing waste from disposable fashion, yet fabric prices can be quite high, so using old clothes in your sewing is a great idea. Old bed sheets can be used for test muslins, linings, or pockets. Quilts or quilt tops make gorgeous jackets or vests. Tops can be made over into something new. And, old jeans can be used to make great bags.
Thrift stores can be a perfect place to find these textiles, but you can also "shop" your own home. I have bedsheets that get holes worn in them, and I use for testing patterns or cut into rags for cleaning. Cute tops get stained and I will re-dye or embroider on them. Jeans that the kids outgrow I made into a bag.
Our 555 Village Courier Bag pattern includes instructions for making this bag from old jeans. And I loved the idea! I had several pair of jeans that were headed to a thrift store that I decided to upcycle into this bag.
To make this bag from old jeans, you need 2-4 pair. However, if you have kids' jeans, you need 3-5 pair, but adult (or large jeans), you can get away with 2-3 pair. You could use any work pants that are made with heavy-weight fabric -- it doesn't have to be just jeans.
I wanted a pretty lining for this bag, and I had about a yard of a lovely floral Art Gallery canvas which worked perfectly.
To cut the pieces from old jeans, I cut down the length of the inside leg seam to open up the pants to be able to cut out whole pieces from the largest part of the jeans in the legs. I cut the flap from this section, and could have also cut the front or back from another side. However, one of the fun things to do with this pattern is to patchwork when there is not a large enough section to cut your whole pattern piece from. And since I only had 3 children's jeans, I cut sections of the jeans and laid them on top of each other to make pieces of fabric large enough to fit the larger pattern pieces for the front and back of the bag. Then, I stitched them together with decorative stitches from my machine, using thread colors that complimented the lining fabric. Once they were stitched together, I cut the pattern piece from the patched fabric. This technique reminded me of crazy quilting. However, with larger jeans, you could probably get away with piecing one or two pieces together to get the same size fabric section.
This technique also allows you to place front or back pockets into the bag, and they become a design feature of your bag! There's lots of room for imagination, and different colors of denim, stitching, and placement of pieces make it a fun design practice.
The smaller pieces of the pattern can easily be cut from left over parts of the jeans. And, another option, which can be used for any bag like this you make, is to use leftover scraps of heavy weight fabric for the bottom interfacing. You can interface the bottom section with a piece of cordura (as I did) or another piece of denim, rather than something new. The bottom just needs a bit more stability and bulk.
One tool that I like to use when working with denim, and seams that end up with a lot of bulk, is a hammer. You can hammer the seams before stitching to make it easier for getting the sewing machine needle through the seams. This technique is perfect to use when you already have a "distressed" fabric like jeans. I tend to use it a lot when working with heavyweight fabrics and it helps reduce the number of broken needles.
I am very happy with this bag and really enjoyed the process of making it. Upcycling is very popular, and for good reason -- it reduces textile waste and provides great opportunities for creativity. And, you could use this upcycling technique is great for making other bag patterns as well. It could be used for our 533 Rugged Tote bag, 546 Market Tote, 545 Oregon Trail Messenger Bag, or 559 Full Moon Bags.
What outdoor clothes or gear have you made with upcycled fabrics?
