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Salvage bag from an old jeans

 This time there was no chance to save my sun's old pair of jeans. The summer is coming and the best is to cut the legs from the trousers and transform it in shorts. I could not resign myself to throw away the relics. So I propose to use one leg to make a salvage bag. Mine is a toilet bag but can easily be used for other purposes.

Supplies:

- 1 square linen  5.12'' x 5,12'' (13 x 13 cm)

- 1 old jeans, cut one leg

- 2 fabric stripes 8.7'' (22 x 4 cm) or bias

- 4 fabric stripes 10.24'' (26 x 4 cm) or bias

- 1 piece of striped fabric  18.11'' x 10.24'' (46 x 26 cm)

 -1 piece of the same striped fabric 10.24'' x 3.54'' (26 x 9 cm)

back of a cross stitched canvas

 

 

 

- Do a 0.78'' lapel on the four sides.

- Sew with a running stitch done with 2 two red threads at 5/32'' (4 mm) from the edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

sea shells and linen pads

 

 

 

 -Prepare 5 sea shells with their little pads ready to be glued (see the step by step)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 While the glue is curing, cut and sew the piece of jeans. (THE DIMENSIONS ARE IN CM - divide by 2.54 TO GET INCHES))

 dimensions of the salvage bag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Cut the leg to get a piece 10.24'' wide. Open the leg and adjust the piece to get a rectangle 10.24'' x 14.96'' (26 x 38 cm).

- On the  10.24'' x 3.54'' striped fabric fold  a 0.51'' (1.3cm) lapel over the length.

- Fold the 10.24'' x 1.57'' (26 x4 cm) fabric stripe by the center line. ou have now a 10.24'' x 1.28'' stripe. Slide this stripe that must jut out 5/16'' (0.8cm).Tack. Do the same on the other side.

 

 

 

 

sewing three layers of fabrics with a sewing machine

 

 

 

 

- Center the stripe over the jeans, sew it according to the schematic. This assembly will mask the seam of the jeans leg.

 

 

 

 

 

upper left corner of the assembly of the bag

 

 

 

 

- Sew the 2 remaining 10.24'' stripes at 8/8'' (1 cm) from the edge of the jeans. The stripes folds are facing inside the piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

press foot sewing linen motif on fabric

 

 

 

 

- Sew the embroidery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

sew sea shell on bag

 

 

 - Place the shells and other objects, sew them.

 

 

 

 

 top view of the pieces of fabrics assembled on the bag not sewed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Place the jeans over the striped fabric back agaisnt back.

- Fold down the fabric over the jeans on the 2 sides. You get on each side 2 stripes 1.57'' wide (4cm).

- Fold inside the fabric to obtain a 0.59'' lapel (1.5cm). The already sewed red bias will jut out by 5/16'' (0.8cm). The blue striped fabric will be 2.5cm wide as shown on the left side of the picture above.

- Pin, tack and sew near the edge of the blue striped fabric.

 

sewing a zipper

 

 

- Assemble the zipper (You can have a look at the sea anemone cushion to get instruction on how to do it). Slide a small book to avoid pinning the the fabric inside the bag.

 

- Overlap the two sides so that the zipper is covered .

 

 

 

 

 

almost finished bag showing the zipper mounted

 

 

 

 

- Tack.


 

 

 

 

 sew the zipper on a bag

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Sew at 0.47'' (1,2 cm) and  3/8 (1 cm) from the edge. I sew two seams to have a stronger bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

salvage bag made of a old jeans

 

 

- Cut the 2 ends of the zipper . 

- Sew at 0.28'' (0,7 cm) from the left and right edge to close the bag.

- Oversew both sides to maintain the 4 layers of fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

tacking bias on the bag

 

 

Start on one side:

- Place a 8.7'' x 1.57'' strip (22 x 4cm) on the front edge over edge. Live 0.59'' (1.5cm). on top and bottom.

- Sew at 3/8'' from the edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

another step to sew a bias on the side of a bag

 

 

 -Fold the strip toward the outside.

- Flip the bag.

- Fold on top and bottom. Pin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

folding a bias on a bag

 

 

 

- Fold down the two ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 assembling the bag:side oversewed

 

 

- Fold the strip at 3/8'' (1cm) from the edge to form a lapel along the length.

- Fold down the remaining fabric to cover the seams on the bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

finishing the side of the salvaged bag hand sewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 - Finish stitching by hand.

- Now do the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

different objects on the sand (red T-shirt,Whit Tshirt,salvaged bag all cross stitched)

 

 

 - Et voilà !

- You might have noticed that the bag have red fishes and a white stripe where you can write a name. They were added after sewing the bag.  But you can add them in the previous steps.