Our local knitting group is hosting an Autumn swap, so it’s time to make some gifts. It’s our third swap and the last two were very popular, so we are all looking forward to opening our gift bags on the day. Each swapper has to buy a different item for six different people, 1 yarn, 1 pattern, 1 accessory, 1 hand made, 1 edible and 1 bag. So everyone in the swap gets 6 gifts all from different people, lovely!
For the bag some people choose to buy a nice shopping bag, others will knit a bag and some of us decide to sew a bag. So I spent too much time surfing through bags on pinterest, when I found this bag tutorial for using an old pair of jeans. I’ve been collecting my torn/worn/too big/too small jeans for a while to make some aprons and project bags. So it was a no brainer.
I made some minor changes to the pattern;
- Where it mentions cutting off the pointy corners, I cut the corners to make a bag bottom instead. (tutorial here)
- Added a regular sewn on pocket instead of a zip locket.
- Instead of leaving a gap at the top of the bag for turning, I left a gap in the bottom of the liner, machined the liner to the top of bag, turned through then stitched the gap in the liner closed.
- It’s worth noting that I didn’t use a pair of flared jeans, because the bag panels are made from 3″ wide pieces you should have enough fabric in a pair of regular jeans.
- For the lining you need 2 pieces of fabric approx’ 13″x13″ plus extra if you want a pocket.
The finished bag is approx’ 12″ x 12″ x 2″ with a 26″ strap, a nice size for a small handbag or project bag. I hope my swap partner likes it!
Lovely – I’m a big fan of the pleats!
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