Reuse-Reduce-Recycle!!

I love this concept! It makes me look at old clothes and other items in a different perspective! So, when I chanced upon this tutorial to recycle a pair of old jeans into a tote, I fell in love with it! Once upon a time, not so long ago, I used to be much thinner than I am now! Really!! I don't fit into any of the clothes from that time frame anymore but, I was still hung upon them! I didn't have the heart to give 'em away and was using them for a while to motivate myself to lose weight and get back to my old figure.But, 4 years down the line, I have resigned to the fact that I may not be using them again at all. So, this tutorial motivated me to chop up my most fave pair of jeans! I literally lived my out-of-college,with-a-job,on-my-own 'bachelorette' days in it! and, it became this:



The only things freshly used for this bag are the zippers. I recycled an old and unused 'nightie' for the lining. I love the batik fabric so much that I didn't have the heart to give the nightie away and so it sat in my closet for two years waiting to be turned into lining for my denim tote! Here is a picture of the innards of the bag:




The only improvisation I did was adding a zippered pocket in the lining inside. I prefer to have a few pockets in my bag to keep important things secure and in place. I missed that in the bags I made previously. So, I decided to give it a try this time and I used this tutorial from U-handbag. I am getting the hang of working with the zipper foot of my sewing machine though I still need more practice. The outer pockets of the tote are the back-pockets of my old jeans. Here is a close-up of the zippered inner pocket:




Its a BIG tote. Its very roomy so that I am never without a knitting or a crochet project and a book anywhere I go. The tote is 14 inches wide at the top, 10.5 inches tall with a 9 X 4 inch bottom. I reinforced the bottom by sticking a denim sleeve with acrylic sheets with fabric glue to the inside of the outer denim fabric before sewing the lining. The acrylic sheets were recycled from the outer covers of old spiral-bound study books. I am glad that the tote can stand on its own. Here is a picture of it standing on its own to give an idea about the size:



So, this tote came to work with me today and here is a picture of it at my desk along with my Tupperware lunch bag!! Sorry for the grainy picture..it was taken with my mobile camera.



This tote is special to me as it reminds me of my days in Bangalore, of the shopping sprees I had with my friends, of the fun times I had while at work there! I am glad I made this tote to make this jeans a part of my day-to-day life now! :-)

-Josie