A good use for old jeans

My little sister turned 17 today, so I spent a few hours the other day making a present for her. I have a couple of old pairs of jeans that I wanted to make use of, so I decided on a denim tote bag. It took about 3 hours to make and broke the needle of my sewing machine, so I had to put the handles on by hand, but I really enjoyed making it. Here’s a picture of the finished bag –

I ripped open the leg seams of the jeans and sewed them together front and back to make a square bag shape. Then I stitched down the pocket linings at the front to make solid pockets, and sewed the zip and fly shut. I had a black and white skirt that I got in a charity shop, which I used to make the lining –

The handles were two strips of denim, folded in half, stitched together and then turned right sides out. I stitched them flat and attached them with a solid backstitch. After that I added a felt applique – probably should have done this bit first, but it was an afterthought as I thought the bag looked a bit plain. I also added a necklace from my goth days as a bag charm.

She usually wears mainly black, so I was slightly worried that it wouldn’t quite be to her taste, but she seemed to really like it when I gave it to her today. I still have another pair of jeans left in my fabric stash, so might have a go at making another bag now I know what I’m doing.