One of the great frustrations of modern clothing is the lack of pockets. I love the comfort of yoga pants, but the lack of a pocket for my keys and phone has seen an evolution of portable pockets that has led us here. All made with materials on hand, Hannah is cut from the same trousers that were used to create the tablet cover, Josie. As a complementary piece, Hannah uses a similar colour pallet and is also a gently abstract motif.
After deciding which part of the trousers to use for the pocket, some deconstruction was required to open the fabric. The size and location of the decoration and the overall design of the bag was guided by the source garment.
The fabric itself is of a medium weight, and I felt it could do with a little added support from some iron-on interfacing where the feather stitch was to go.
The design is moderately dense, so to protect against gathering the fabric with the stitches, I put the design into a hoop for the embroidery.
To transfer the design from paper to fabric, I used a water-soluble stabiliser with the design drawn in a white pen that stood out well against the dark fabric.
This idea was a revelation, after struggling to see blue or black lines on black fabric.
Have a look at our video on Transferring Designs to see this comparison in action.
I thought I was done with the feather stitch, until I had a good look at where the seam lines would be on either side of the bag. The design was poorly placed, with way too much room on the right side. Lucky for me, it was an easy fix, adding more lines of feather stitch into the space.
I used existing elements of the trousers in my bag where I could. The pocket needed a little reinforcing, but that gave me an extra space in the bag, with minimal sewing.
To make a band at the top of the bag, I cut off the hem, and sewed it to the right size.
The raw edges at the join would be covered by the strap loops, and sewing the lining to the band itself would cover the raw edges at the top of the bag.
Once all the stitching was complete, the final part was the strap.
This was another lucky thrifting find. Someone has taken it off their bag when new, and never used it.
There was a lot of satisfaction in creating this bag, working with the existing parts of the garment to bring it all together.
One thing that happened just by chance was the direction of the front pocket. I wear the bag hanging by my left hip, and the pocket opens to the left, making it perfect to slip you hand in.
If you try making a bag like this from a thrifted garment, it might just pay to spare a thought for which way you would like the bag to sit.
The materials used in this project included:
Thrifted trousers - $2
Bag strap - $2
Iron-on interfacing (scrap)
Acetate lining (stash)
Cotton floss
Watch the video of decorating this project on YouTube.
Watch the video of making the pocket-bag on YouTube.
Watch our video tutorial on Feather stitch on YouTube.
Look at our web tutorial for Feather stitch here.
