Skip to main content

Legging It

I sometimes receive pieces of finished garments in my Fabscrap orders, and the last one brought this single leg from a pair of jeans to my sewing table. The fabric is a very smooth, soft denim-like synthetic, and print reminds me of frost patterns in winter, so I decided to upcycle it.

First I opened the straight inside seam to see how much fabric I had to work with. Jeans are usually double or triple-stitched, so it took about an hour to unpick.

After trimming the top evenly I had a nice piece of fabric to reuse. I folded it in half and got an idea for a French market-style project bag.

It's tempting to square everything, I know, but jeans are sewn slightly on a slant and don't usually lay flat when opened along one seam (which was the case with my one-leg.) Instead I decided to wrap the wider side of the piece around and sew it on a diagonal to make a wider top for the bag.

That worked out great, as you can see from the finished bag. I could disguise the center seam on both sides with a piece of lace, but I decided to leave it as it looked more interesting. You can definitely tell my bag was once a pant leg. :)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fabscrap for 2023

In December I made two orders from Fabscrap. The first arrived with this giant spool of variegated taupe yarn; it's more than enough to make a nice big wrap or a lap blanket. I also added two pounds of mendable sample garment tops in this particular order. I made a mistake and clicked on large for the size, and then later read that they were out of stock. I expected they would backorder my order, but instead they made some delightful substitutions. This pretty pink top doesn't need any mending or alteration. This is a dress, I believe, and it looks to be in perfect condition, too. A white eyelet blouse, also in new condition. Keep in mind that all these garments are $8.00 a pound, which works out to $4.00 each for this order. That's cheaper than Goodwill. I even got a coat. That neon green faux fur on the cuffs definitely has to go, but I love the coat. This is a yard pack of neutral naturals. The linen alone (on the right) is worth about $25....
Post a Comment
Read more

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...
1 comment
Read more