If you have 15 minutes....

then you can stitch up this bag. I have been

making these bags for about a year now.

My daughters & my grandchildren use them.

You can make these bags different ways but

I always opt for the easiest & the quickest.

I reuse anything that I can - including those

ribbons that come from those fancy bags at

department stores.  In fact that is where these

ribbons came from. Read these directions till

you understand them. They are long only

because I want them to be clear.

The directions for this bag are different than

the other bags that I have made in the past.

This bag does not close - but you can

certainly make it to where it does close.

This bag is also unlined. Your materials

list is really small.

Materials for one bag:

a pair of pants or capri's with side pocket or pockets

ribbon

sewing machine

cutting scissors

pins

one safety pin

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 This is just another view of the bag.

 Generally all of these types of bags I make - are made

from long pants or capri's. The only ones that I cut up

are the items that have side pockets. These particular

pants are a soft baby green & are made from linen.

They are still beautiful & so soft!

Linen is my favorite fabric & I have tons of it!

So grab a pair of your pants or capri's that has worn out or you

have outgrown. Just make sure that it has a side pocket

or many pockets on the side. If your pants have pockets

on both legs - then thats a bonus. You can get 2 pretty

bags! These pants only have a side pocket on one of the

legs so I will only be cutting the one side.

So lets get started!

Take your pants & fold them to wear you see

the side with the pocket. Now look at the pants & locate

the side pocket. It is here where you must decide how big

do you want or need your bag to be. Now on this particular

pair of pants the pocket is located on the upper

thigh. So to keep the bag from being too long

(because I dont need a long bag),

then I will cut off a lot at the bottom of the pants.

 To cut - look at your cutting mat. Make sure your

pants are straight & even on the mat.  No bulges!

Just decide

where you want to cut it - & use those lines

as a cutting guide. But be careful fabric

can slip if its not pinned down. Since these

are just bags - I dont worry about too much

slippage or being fussy.  Just try to cut as

straight as you can. Cut the bottom off if you

are ready. Now go to the top of the pants leg & cut

as close to the crotch as you can.  As you can

see on my pants there is only about 4 inches from

the top of the side pocket to the crotch where I cut

it.

 Now this is your bag - notice that the side seams

are already there - you dont have to worry about

that. And they are probably very pretty seams.

Make sure that you turn the pants to the wrong side!

At this point, run a line of pins from one side of the bag to the

other side. Go to the sewing machine and sew a straight

stitch from side to side. Afterwards remove the pins.

 Now cut off any excess fabric.

 For good measure - I stitched over my previous stitching

with a couple more stitchings just to give it strength.

Also I zig-zagged it. You can use fray check here if you

want to but you dont have to.  The bottom is finished.

 At the top - fold over and turn under a small bit of

fabric to hide your raw edge & pin it. Place your ribbon

on top - make sure that you have enough of a

casing so the ribbon can move. You dont want a fat hem but

you dont want a skinny hem either.

Now pin the edge all the way around the top of the

bag. Sew the hem down & remove the pins as you

go - BUT start & stop at each of the 2 seams. Leave

small openings here to allow for the ribbon.

Decide on how long you want your ribbons to be.

Cut them if necessary. Cut 2 ribbons.

Put a safety pin on one of your ribbons so you can thread it

thru one of the spaces in the seam. Come out on the other

side. This is one ribbon & you must thread thru the seams

2 ribbons. One ribbon goes thru one side & the

other ribbon goes thru the other side. So that one each

side of the bag there are 2 ribbons that come out from

the seams that were left open.  See the next photo.

I hope that you can see what I have done here. Now

go to one of the seams. Match up the 2 ribbons & sew

a seam down them. Here you are connecting the 2 ribbons

together. Sew them together multiple times. You dont want

them coming apart. Then stitch up the ribbons at the

other seam.

Now its time to hide those ribbon seams. On the other

side seam pull of the ribbon until the one seam goes

into the hem. Now do the other side. This should

hide those ugly ribbon seams.

See - those seams are going bye-bye!

Now pull out some of the ribbon on one of the side

seams. Do not pull the side that has the ribbon seam

in it.  Do the same to the other side.

What I did here first was - to gather up the top edges

by pulling the ribbons. Make sure that the ribbons even up

on each side. Once it is gathered like I want & the ribbons

are lined up evenly -

then on one side I align the ribbons together

& sew that side down along the seam as you see here.

Then repeat for the other side.

I hope that you enjoy making this bag.

by conny