Pages

Saturday, October 15

Day 15 - The Tale of an Old Shirt

We're going to take another break from home projects to make a little something pretty for ourselves! And believe it or not, this time it's not a bag! It's a clutch. Totally different. :)


 A while back I found this cute gathered clutch tutorial on pinterest. Once I got my sewing machine out the other day I got a major sewing itch and decided to go ahead and give it a try.


So I started by hunting down some fabric and here is what I found. For the outside I cut up an old shirt that was ripped anyway (blue fabric) and picked up a sheet at the thrift store for the lining (yellow floral). The band fabric was left over from another project (yellow).


The tutorial was surprisingly easy to follow (I think I just expected it to be harder because the result is so darn cute!) and in no time I had this little guy:


 I decided to go big and include both optional elements - the card pocket and the divider. I'm so glad I did because it was really easy and totally worth it!


 It turned out to be a great size, too. Small enough to fit in my purse, yet big enough to stand alone. I seriously might be giving these out for Christmas. So cute.


I did have one little problem on my first attempt, right down here. The whole "zipper tag" thing confused me and I ended up with a gap in sewing when I turned everything right side out. The good news is I know what I did wrong and it shouldn't happen again. :) The only other problem I had was sewing the zipper. Which was totally a user error. It gets caught on extra fabric when I try to close it. My bad, guys.


 Project Cost Breakdown:
$1.00 - fabric (sheet from the thrift store, old shirt & scrap fabric I already had)
$0 - scraps of interfacing
$0.50 - zipper (from a yard sale)
Total $1.50


Have you ever up-cycled old clothes? Any ideas to share? Ready to go digging in the closet for some hidden potential? Do you think I make too many bags? :)

3 comments:

  1. There is no sucn thing as too many bags (or scarves or flats or the color green)! That is an adorable clutch :) I have a pile of tshirts sitting paitently waiting to be made into a quilt...you know, a rainy day project ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it! I'll definitely have to make one (or two or three!) I got a box of fabric off of craigslist so that would be perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Anna. We understand each other, as only two purse/scarf/flat/green loving girls can. :) That quilt may have to be a snowy day project instead! Brrrrr! It sounds awesome, though. You are always so creative!

    Lauren, it's definitely hard to stop with just one. :) And I totally never thought of checking craigslist for fabric! Great idea! I think I'll go see if I can find any now... :)

    ReplyDelete