Dress to Bag Mini Tutorial

 

 I made a tote bag recently for myself which I thought would share with you.  Anyone who knows me, knows this is the bag I always carry with me lol!

 

I made this from fabric that I already had at home including the main part of the bag coming from an old denim dress that belonged to me. I made this bag just the right size to hold an A4 Binder inside and also the pocket large enough to hold my A5 Diary/Planner inside. The 2 small pockets hold my mini umbrella and my phone!  This is not a full tutorial as I didn't take many photographs, so thought I would just share with you a brief mini tutorial. 

 

I cut out two large rectangles of fabric. One piece the denim dress and the other piece of fabric to use as lining.
I cut out the front part of the dress including the pockets to use a large inside pocket for the bag. I had to stitch up beside the buttons to make it all one piece of fabric.
I used fabric to make a Binding over the top of the pocket. I used the same fabric to make the tote bag strap and the binding for the top rim of the bag. I actually added some Elastic inside the rim so that the bag closes a little to keep my things a bit more secure.
I used strips of Ribbon to go from the front to the back of the bag for design purposes.
I hand sewed some decorative buttons I had to the front of the bag.
I hand sewed a flower hair accessory that I had to the front of the bag.
I had a pretty keychain that was broken which I also attached to the front of the bag for decoration.

I so love this bag and it is great to keep my A4 Binder in when I attend my Arabic/Islamic Classes. And I always like to have my Diary/Planner with me so this is kept in its own pocket inside the bag for easy access! I have plenty of space to keep my money purse and other things too!

If you are interested in making one of these yourself there are plenty of free tutorials online - just search for tote bag tutorials and find one that you feel is easy for you to follow. I have included a few here if you wish to look at that them:

20-minute-tote-bag
how-to-make-a-simple-reversible-totebag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a9Yt1gmutQ