Awesome Jean Tote Bag

All right, last day of this batch of crafts. Like I mentioned in the onesie post, I cleaned out my closet. This left me with not just a bunch of shirts to donate, but a bunch of old, worn-out or ill-fitting jeans as well. Some were so old and so patched that I didn't think even DI would want them. So, I used them to create my very favorite project out of all these.

I made a bag.

An awesome bag.

Jason and I go to the library all the time, and we use these cottony-type of tote bags to haul all of our books back and forth. Bags of this size are particularly helpful, so I decided to make another one using a couple pairs of my old jeans. As soon as I started planning it, I could visualize exactly what I wanted it to look like in my head, and so I just made it based on that. I used our cotton tot bags for a size-reference.

I used two pairs of jeans - a light one and a dark one - for the alternating strips and for the edge at the top. For the inner lining and the strap, I used this faux-jean cotton dress that I was also getting rid of. It was perfect because it's soft and a much lighter fabric than the jeans, so the inside is nice and soft and finished and the strap is soft as well.

By cutting the pieces of fabric carefully, I was able to utilize the dresses's already existing pockets without having to do any extra sewing. So, the bag has two pockets in the inside (you see them in the upper left part of the bag, one on each side).

This bag is by far my favorite of the projects I made last week. It's so soft and yet durable-feeling and I just really really like it.

And that's the jean tote bag!