The Jeans Bag Challenge

A lovely niece in Arizona sent a picture via facebook of a bag made out of an old pair of jeans. She wondered if I knew how to do that. What she didn't know is that I tried to make a gym bag for one of my granddaughters out of old jeans a while back and it didn't go well - I threw the whole mess away. I did learn a few things through that experience, though.

I've been making some handbags and different things lately so felt I might be up for this challenge - a little more skill under the belt at this point - a little more "trial and error".

Wouldn't you know, there is a bag of jeans in my sewing room, and I have been pondering whether they should stay there or go to Goodwill. I'm glad they were here today so I could try to make a bag out of an old pair of jeans.

I think the biggest problem in transforming a pair of jeans into anything is that they are not flat - they're made to fit the curves of our bodies. You can cut the legs off from a pair and the legs will lay nice and flat, but not the top section that looks cool in re- purposed handbags.

I guess I'll start this whole step-by-step with a picture of the finished bag that I made today. I was working on laundry so just decided to play in my sewing room in between loads. Here goes...

OK, the first thing I know is that the little belt I made is too long.  I'll have to fix that, but not tonight.  This is the finished bag as of today - a work in progress.

It doesn't seem to hold its shape like the one my niece sent the picture of, either.  I guess another time I would try some interfacing or fusible fleece to give it some body.  You would think the denim would be good on its own, but it just wants to slump.  All-in-all, I think it turned out pretty good.  I would use it.  

Here's what I did:

First I laid out a pair of jeans and  cut off the legs down from the crotch a few inches, like this:

 

I set the legs aside and then cut the welted seam out from the inside leg and crotch area of the top part of the jeans, like this:

 

After that seam was cut out I turned them wrong side out and tried to flatten them out on the table.  This is where trouble begins, because they won't lay in a nice rectangular shape.  You have to do some work so that you can end up with something that resembles a flat piece of fabric.  This is what I did:

 

On the front side of the jeans (on the wrong side of the fabric), I pinched and pinned from the zipper down, trying to pull the fabric in so that it would lay flat.  I sewed along my pinned line and trimmed the seam allowance.  (confusing, I know - I hope it makes more sense as we go along)

 

Next I took the center back belt loop off with a seam ripper.  Once that was done I turned the jeans wrong-side-out again and  pinned from the waist band all the way down the center, kind of like I had done in the front below the zipper.  Once pinned I stitched along my pins and then trimmed the seam.  My pin/stitch line was along the edge of the clear ruler below in the picture.

 

Then I layed the jeans out flat on my cutting board, smoothing to flatten them out and work on getting that rectangular shape.  Then I cut across the bottom where my tapered stitch line had ended on the front of the jeans, cutting through the front and the back at the same time............I use a rotary cutter but you could mark where you wanted to cut and use shears.   This is what they looked like at that point:

 

After they were cut, as I had them all smoothed out, I was trying to figure out  where I was going with this project next.  I did end up with a pretty rectangular piece, though - a little wider at the bottom than at the waist, but not by much.

 

I've been making some handbags so have learned the technique of sewing the bottoms of bags so that they end up like the bottom of a grocery bag.  So that's what I did next - a straight seam across the bottom (I did 1/2" seam allowances) and then worked on the bottom to create that "flat bottom effect" - like this:

 

Where you just stitched across in a straight line across the bottom, you have to grab the corners and pull the bag so that the corners are sticking out like little ears off to each side.  In the above picture you are seeing the  bottom seam running from left to right and the cross in the middle is where you see the center front and back seams.

I measured in 2" and cut off that triangle, then pinned and stitched it - repeat for the other end ( I usually just stitch across as far in as I want when making bags and then cut the triangle off. You can do it either way.  I sometimes slip a rubber band around the arm of my sewing machine at however many inches I want and then have that as my 2" guide, or whatever measurement I want).  This is how it looks on the bottom when you do the corners.

                                    


That's it for the jean bag.  Now for handles and lining...

I used one of the left over legs from the jeans to make the handles.  I just layed it out on my cutting board and used my 6" wide ruler and cut a strip right up the center of the leg.  Then I cut down the center of that strip dividing it into 3" wide strips - there were four of them at that point.

 

 

With right sides together I joined two 3" pieces together making an even longer strip.  Repeat for the second two pieces.  Then I had to decide how long I wanted the handles.  I folded the strips in half where the seam is and measured out 15" and cut there - that gave me a 30" strip - repeat for the second piece.

 

 

I pressed the seams open and then pressed in 1/4 inch  all around each 30" strip, even the ends.  Then fold the strips in half the long way, lining up the open edge, then stitch all the way around.  I set them aside and attached them last.
 

 

I used some cute owl fabric for the lining.  I can see where each bag you make is going to be different, so I can't tell you how big to make the fabric for the lining.  I measured the finished bag width, top and bottom, and used the larger number for my width measurement, plus and inch for seam allowance.  My pieces ended up being 19" wide.  For the length, I measured from the top of the jean bag to the very bottom of the bag (pulling the bag down in the center, not at the corners, to get a true length measurement).

I sewed three sides together on the lining with right sides together - 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Then I did the little corner thing on the lining just like the outer bag.

 

I pressed the top opening of the lining under 1/2 inch all around, then folded it down again and pressed it.  I slipped it inside the jean bag, wrong sides together and pinned it in place so that I could stitch over the lower row of stitches on the waistband of the jeans and catch the lining.  My lining didn't fit perfect so I just eased it in and made it work - a little tuck here and there to make it fit is just fine for me - nothing is exact in something like this.  :)

 

It's not easy sewing through the thickness of the jeans, especially when you come to a belt loop and are sewing through that thickness, too.   Make sure you're using a needle in your machine that will handle this heavy work.  You could just hand stitch the lining in place, if you wanted.  I thought about it but was trying to get it done.  :)  Luckily no broken sewing machine needles - I've learned the hard way not to pull on the fabric too hard when the fabric is so thick and not wanting to move under the pressure foot - that'll break a needle every time.

After the lining was stitched in place, I sewed the handles on where I thought they should be, trying to place them to the side of the front pockets then matching the placement up on the backside to match the front handles. (Didn't take a picture of that part.)

I cut a long strip of the owl fabric and made the little belt - made it too long, but I'll fix that another time.  I just sewed it right sides together and left an opening so that I could turn it right side out - then I stitched the opening close.

I also cut a piece of a foam material called "Soft & Stable" the size of the bottom of the bag to help hold the shape (I think my piece was 5" x 13").  I cut out fabric and sewed it together to fit over the foam.  I placed  the piece down into the bottom of the finished bag.  It did help to hold the shape of the bottom, but another time I think I would try something like plastic canvas that is a little more stiff.

So, here's the bag - inside...

 

and out...

 

I would probably try some different things another time, but I think it turned out alright for the first one.  Like I said before, when recycling something like jeans into bags, each one is going to be different.  I hope someone will be able to follow my basic directions here, but just know that you'll have to make up your own measurements as you go along.

Thanks, Kim, for the challenge.  :)  I wouldn't put this in the class of a "beginner" project, but if you have some basic sewing skills then I'd say start using up those old jeans.  Also check out some other tutorials on bag making to see the technique for making the bottom like a grocery sack - I know my pictures didn't explain it well. 

So friends, did I pass the "Jean Bag Challenge"?