Happy Flower Power Bag

The list of projects I want to make is endless ……
And although I do manage to tick things off that list, it’s still constantly growing due to the fabulous inspiration that I (and I’m sure you too) am surrounded with. Gorgeous blog posts, beautiful photos on Instagram, not to mention Pinterest as a never-ending source of creativity …..

Of course it’s not the real kind of “tough”, but still …… kinda tough to pick a project, FINISH it, and not be distracted by numerous projects that also scream: “make me, make me!”.

One of the things that has been on my have-to-make-list for a long time was this bag, made of an old pair of jeans. With a fast growing teenage son in da house, there was no lack of old jeans and a couple of weeks ago I finally set off to make my own!

If you google “how to make a bag of an old pair of jeans”, you’ll find these helpful DIYs/HOW TOs (45.000.000 hits …..). I was inspired by this particular one, and gave my own twist to it, which I will show you here.

In short: you cut off the legs, straighten the bottom part, sew front and back together.

From the legs, you cut the handles, stitch them on the inside of the bag.

Measure out the lining, sew the inner bag together and hand stitch it into the bag.
That’s basically it – now the fun part starts: decorating your bag!

Once the bag was sewn – an easy and quick task – I began to dress it up.
You know how I love crochet flowers ( remember the flowery tea cosy?), so these had to be appliquéd onto my bag, as well as a colorful heart here and there.

I love the fact that the original jeans pockets come in handy, to store a lipstick, a phone. I’ve added two pockets on the inside of the bag and used lovely Andrée’s idea to recycle two lonely crochet hexagons that were sitting somewhere in my craftroom.
In order to be able to properly close the bag, I crocheted some twenty chains, slip stitched back and sewed the loop onto the back of the bag; this way I can simply use the button of the jeans.
                       My “Happy Flower Power Bag” was finished a week ago and taken on its first outing last Sunday! Many more expeditions are foreseen ……

Love,
Marianne xx