DIY - Make your own tote bag out of recycled fabric!

I have accepted the fact that my cool little seatbelt purse must be stowed away for the rare occasions that my hubby and I go out by ourselves, and that I must now sport the "giant mommy bag." So, the other day I was online trying to find a cool tote bag-slash-purse to function as both a diaper bag and my purse. I found several cute bags, although they were all pretty pricey.

So, I thought I'd go on a search for a pattern to try and make my own. I found a perfect little free pattern with a nice downloadable tutorial here. If you're not a sewer, then they have some really cool bags you can purchase on their site!

I headed out to the fabric store, and decided why not go to the thrift store instead, and pick up some fabric there to recycle?! Here is what I found:



The wine colored fabric on the left is actually a tablecloth, the one in the middle is a pillow sham, and on the right is some cool patterned corduroy that was sold as raw fabric. I've never really explored these aisles of the thrift store before, so it was very eye opening seeing how many cool fabrics you can find and what you can re-use!! They have aisles of placemats, tablecloths, towels, blankets, sheets, pillow shams, and even raw fabric remnants that can all be turned into something new! Many places even organize them by color, so it makes it very easy to find several patterns/colors that go together.

The only other things I had to purchase were some interfacing, which I got at the fabric store. I also bought a zipper, which is not shown in the instructions, but was something I wanted to add. You could even recycle a zipper from another piece of used clothing or old purse.

I cut out all the pieces one night while watching tv with my hubby, started sewing that night, then finished it the next morning. It really didn't take that long, although you will need to know how to operate a sewing machine. Here's my end result:



I ended up getting the wrong kind of interfacing, but it seemed to work out okay. I think if I make another it'll turn out better. I found some great canvas-like hand towels with wine glass illustrations on them that I might try making into another bag.

So, check out the tutorial...make a trip to your local thrift store, and turn something old into something new and one-of-a-kind!