DIY Purse From a Pair of Jeans

The Holidays are around the corner and it's time to start thinking about what to get your loved ones for Christmas. I've seen these cool pins on Pinterest on how to make a purse out of an old pair of jeans and I thought, what little girl wouldn't love a purse that looks like jeans. 

Lucky for me I just so happened to have an old pair of jeans and random fabric laying around for the lining. 

Let's get started. 

Here are the sites I used for inspiration:

Site 1, Site 2

DIY Purse From a Pair of Jeans

Step 1:  Line up the waistline front and back, then iron out all the creases. Pin the waistline together so it stays lined up. 

Step 2:  Cut across the jeans just above the crotch line. I whipped out the quilting ruler and marked a line across for better accuracy. 

It should look like this when you are done.

Now looking at this pic you might be thinking that this will make an awfully large purse. Of course those over large satchel purses are kind of in right now, but I decided to make two smaller purses instead. So yeah my butt is big enough to make two purses. Depressing. But on the bright side I get two purses for the price of one. Oh yeah. 

So here I deviated from the other tutorials and cut the jean in half right up the middle so that I could turn it into two purses. Like this.

Back side. 

Then front side. I cut on either side of the zipper on the front cuz I didn't know what to do with it.

Okay now that I have my pieces it's time to make a lining and sew it all together. 

Step 3:  Make a lining by placing your jeans cut-out on top of your lining fabric and cut it out. I left room all around for seam allowance. 

Not sure if you can tell but I lined it up on the fold so there was less to sew later. 

Step 4:  Next up with right sides together sew the sides and bottom of your jeans. Then repeat with the lining. 

You can make a turn by leaving the needle down in the fabric, lifting the pressed foot up then rotating the fabric. Make sure to lower the presser foot before you start sewing again. 

If you want to box the corners like I did, make a triangle in the bottom corners and stitch across.

Repeat on other side and also for the lining. Here they are both done. 

Step 5:  Turn your jean purse right side out and place the lining as is inside of the jeans purse. 

About here is where I realized I had made the lining too big, but as it turns out it looked super cute folded over the top of the bag so I went with it. Just to make it nice I took the lining back out and hemmed the top for a finished look. 

Then I reinserted it. 

Step 6:  Make a strap.  Using the pant leg of the jeans cut out two identical strips.  Yeah this took me awhile because let's face it, I tried to save some time and cut a few corners.  Long story short, take your time and do it right.  I also realized here that the jeans fabric is too tough to easily turn right side out for a strap so...just make finished edges anyway you know how or use another type of fabric.

 

Once you have your strap made it's time to sew the lining and strap to the bag.  With the lining wrong side out place it inside your bag and fold the top down over the bag as seen below.  Then place the strap ends under the lining wherever you want them and pin in place.  This way the raw edges will be concealed under the fold of the lining top.

 

 

As seen above one side of the strap has been placed under the lining fold.  This is where I started stitching around the bag following the hemline on the lining fold.  Stitch all the way around the bag, don't forget to insert the other end of the strap in its place if you didn't already do that. 

 

 

 

It should look like this when finished.  Not gonna lie, the first one took me about two hours and I made a few mistakes, but I was able to whip out the second one in like ten to fifteen minutes.

 

Here they are together.  One for each niece.  Now I just need to grab some accoutrements to decorate them with and let the girls have at it.

 

Next up I'm gonna make them some scarves for the cold weather.  Wish me luck.