Up-Cycled Beach Bag

Yesterday I was in great need of the satisfaction of a quickly completed project.  It seems lately I have been sewing projects that take awhile, with work, kids, husband, girl scouts and all.

I had found this beauty at my local hospital auxiliary resale shop and had to buy it.  It started its life as a bag for a camp chair.   

 I really liked the print and instantly saw a beach bag. The bag cost me $1.00 and the only thing I added was a piece of elastic from my stash and the thread to re-sew it.  The strap is off the original bag.

 

I'm sorry about the background in all the pictures of my bags.  This is in my studio and I really must finish this railing.  My studio is in what I call our loft area.  It is at the tops of our stairs and is open to below.  We had taken the railing apart making the walkway to the master bedroom wider and it never got totally put back together.

 

I used my trusty seam ripper and patiently (maybe not so patiently but I got them out without destroying the fabric) took out all the seams and removed the strap from the side.  After I got all the seams out I realized that there was not a straight side on it.  It was wider at on end than the other.  The ends also weren't straight.  Then I had to use my rotary cutter to cut every side on it to make a nice and straight rectangle.  The edges of the fabric were really wanting to unravel so I used my overcasting foot to make sure the edges wouldn't unravel.  I sewed french seams because I didn't want to add a lining and I wanted the inside seams to look good.  After I had the basic bag sewn,  I pinned the strap to the bag and didn't like how large the opening was, so now I had to figure out what to do to make the opening not so big.  Then it hit me sew a pocket for elastic, to bring the opening in. After that I reattached the strap below the elastic and it was finished.  I really like the way it turned out.  It was really easy and It only took me a couple of  hours from start to finish, even with having to stop in the middle to go to a girl scout parent meeting, and I didn't have to stay up half the night to get it finished.

Deb's Purse

Last month while my family was vacationing, my sister-in-law and I ran to Wal-Mart for forgotten items.  We happened to pass by the material section (I must to stop and look at any material I see) Deb saw this great pattern and asked me if she bought it would I make her a purse, of coarse I said yes!  As soon As I got home I went about trying to find what material I would use for the lining.  I was really lucky a couple of months ago.  I went to a yard sale and saw a couple of solid color table cloths.  I asked the lady having the sale how much she wanted for them and she said take what I want free.  i was shocked, I told her I would take them all so how much did she want for them.  She said really take them all and she picked up a trash bag and started putting the table cloths in it.  When I got home I could not believe how may she had given me.  The were not all solid.  I even made a skirt out of one of them, I will post later.  Anyway I digress, I fould in my stash of table cloths the greenish colored one above which I think goes great with the material Deb picked out. 

I used the pattern from Sew Momma Sew, for her April Bags.

Here is the link back to her http://www.sewmamasew.com/store/media/blog/SMSAprilBags.pdf.

Of coarse I cant make a puse without pockets. 

I gave my sister-in-law Deb the purse last weekend and she loved it.