Upcycled jeans bags -- making it work

My current obsession is transforming old jeans into cool new bags for iPads and Kindles. For material, I look for high-quality denim, usually stone-washed. I keep my eye out for tasteful prints, but these are harder to find.






I enjoy combining material from different pieces and I'm always on the lookout for cool pockets. (Sometimes I'll buy pants just for the top-stitched detail on the back pockets.)
Cool pocket
I discovered early on that bags for tablets require lots of material -- more than the legs of typical adult-size jeans provide. At first, I used jeans maxi skirts, which usually are big enough to make 2 bags. But these are harder to find and not always the best quality.

I've found a couple of ways to make the narrower legs of pants work. One is to put the inseam right in the center of bag.
Inseam front and center
Another solution I stumbled onto is to combine the denim with a different kind of material, usually patterned. In this bag, I combined jeans with fleece from a fun pink and brown girl's animal print skirt.
Solution to problem of narrow jeans legs
Here's the finished bag. I'm really happy that I was able to turn a problem into an even better product. As Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn would say, it was my "make it work" moment.

Comments

  1. You're bags are wonderful! You must have fun searching the thrift shops for jeans & fabric.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I do! It's like a treasure hunt.

    ReplyDelete

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