Making a bag / pouch aka reincarnating my old pants

Before and after

I was inspired by @crosheille's #needleworkmonday project to make something. I learned how to sew on a sewing machine before but was so discouraged by how skew I sewed and how terrible the outcome was.

Now, just before my 30th birthday, I decided it's time to try again - I mean even my husband can sew, in fact he helped me through the process of making this bag, giving some tips and tricks for success!

Step 1: Dust off the forgotten sewing machine

Step 2: Find some good music

Step 3: Check discord channels and steemit feed
((2 hours later))

Maybe we should start again ((heehee))..

So I have these "hippie" pants that I really enjoyed wearing and I don't know about you but I get really sad when my clothes get worn out and unusable - so many memories in them! So I decided they need reincarnating! (Some may call it "upcycling")

The elastic was completely coming undone


I wanted to just make a simple pouch bag for starters that included the little pocket with some one sided fleece material to reinforce and strengthen the material.

Snip snip

((Perfectionist husband moans at me for cutting without his perfectionist expertise - with good reason too - it was pretty skew.))

First I sewed the fleece to the pants material

Then we placed some cord into a hem at the top for the drawstring

Then I sewed the edges together

Remember to sew it inside out!

Yay! All done!

We added some beads to the end of the cord for prettiness

Now I had the dilhemma of what to use this bag/pouch for... Hmmmmmmm..

I got it! It's perfect for my sketchbook / ideas book! And the pocket is great for holding pencils and my eraser!

It does fit - first pic in before and after up top has the book inside

Not too bad for my first confidence boosting sewing exercise!

Next time I'd like to make a similar bag but with a sling strap that I'll macrame or crochet.