Upcycled Jeans Tote

Transform your faithful blues into our sturdy Upcycled Jeans Tote. There’s nothing more heart-breaking than finally wearing out that trusty pair of jeans. Luckily, Amanda Walker has discovered a way to give your denim slacks a new lease of life. Ideal for those on-the-go moments, this stylish bag features colour-popping pink handles and can be whipped up in an afternoon. If you fancy making a larger tote, we’d recommend using a bigger pair of jeans to give yourself more fabric to play with.

Essentials

Old pair of jeans
Webbing, pink
Bias binding
D rings
Carabiner clip

Measure 35cm up from the base hem of the legs and cut straight across. Unpick the straight seam leaving the welt seam intact and open out the two rectangular pieces. The width of the legs will determine the width of the bag. To create the gussets at the base of the tote, snip away a 5cm square from each base corner, the base being the cut edge. The hem on the jeans will become the top of the bag.
Cut out one of the back patch pockets, leaving as much fabric around it as possible. The piece for this tote measures 17cm wide and 24cm long, with a 2cm border above the pocket. You will need to ignore the grain of the piece as the pockets are stitched at slight angles. Make sure the patch pocket is straight within the rectangle.
Press a length of bias binding in half lengthways and slot this on top of the rectangle above the patch pocket. Edge stitch the binding in place. Position and pin the pocket piece in the centre base of one of the prepared rectangles. Cut two pieces of webbing. They need to be long enough to run the length of the bag twice and accommodate a handle for the bag.
Position the end of one piece of webbing at the base of the tote overlapping the raw edge of the pocket patch. Pin up the edge of the pocket then to the top of the bag, loop the webbing over and repeat the process in reverse, concealing the opposite side of the pocket and down to the base edge. Edgestitch both sides of the handle in place, sandwiching the edge of the pocket between the bag and the webbing. The second piece of webbing is attached in the same way to the remaining denim rectangle, omitting the pocket.
With the right sides of the bag facing one another, match the side seams and across the base. Stitch together with a 1cm seam allowance. Unpick a little of the top hem on both sides to enable the side seams to be sewn. Once completed, refold the hem and stitch in place.
Sew the gussets at the base of the bag together by matching the end of a side seam to one end of the base seam. As the seams are drawn together, the edges of the 5cm square will be drawn together too. Pin and stitch across again with a 1cm seam allowance. Repeat on the remaining corner and turn the tote right sides out, teasing out all the corners. Connect a D ring to one of the handles.