Upcycled Denim Zipper Bag

We're officially in total lockdown now, no going out unless you have to go to the grocery shop, to work if your work is necessary (you need to have a signed document from the employer) and if you need to supply family members (you need to have a type of affidavit). Police along with the army is checking people and handing out fines, quite high.

Soooo, I should be bored at home with so much free time in my hand but in fact I'm busy all day. There are two people in my care, plus I'm working on my bag project. Today I'm going to show you another bag, which is my fourth and not even close to what I'd wanted.

This is the bag, maybe from a plane it looks good but all I can see is the mistakes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just being honest and not covering it up. I'm still learning, so this is the process of making mistakes and learning from them. I'm going to show you what I mean later. First let me show you the process.

Materials

A pair of black jeans I bought last week from my favorite second hand shop, brand new by the way. It's black, excellent quality, but the thread is a neonish yellow, a very ugly one. So my best choice was to get rid of this ugly yellow and use the rest.

Already looks better without that ugly yellow, isn't it?

For the lining I got a striped shirt from sOliver, also brand new from the second hand shop.

The Process

The pocket looked interesting and I thought if I could get rid of those yellow lines, I could use another color and still keep the design.

After getting rid of the yellow thread, the dots you see on the photo remained, so still usable as a guide for my new thread.

I thought this warm brown will be perfect but was wrong as it looked awful, so I dropped it and used the pocket as it was.

Two toned bags are always interesting, I love the contrast and I thought why not combine the right side with the wrong side and make it two toned.

This is the wrong side of it, it's gray and perfect for me.

This is the contrast I was looking for.

And here comes the fun part. The pocket worked against me, had to redo it and was still not straight.

I decided to sleep on it and make a decision the next day, today and in the morning I said it's better to get rid of the pocket as it would look way better and was right. I looks better.

Also, the part above the zipper should have been made from the wrong side but I made the same mistake twice and decided to use it as it is and not waste more material. It looks good as it is, why waste more?

The carry straps are one from the right side and the other from the wrong side to be more interesting.

Here it is the pocket bag, with a not so straight pocket. I guess if I fill the bag with stuff it modifies the shape of it and the mistake won't be so visible but I'm not hiding anything here.

The pocket is pretty deep, enough for a smaller umbrella, mine is not so small.

Close-up photo of the pocket.

The back side of the bag with the strap made of the wrong side.

Inside

Have I ever told you I'm a pocket addict? I guess I have.

This bag also has four pockets. This one is from the shirt, the original pocket. I said why throw it away when I can salvage and use it. It comes in handy in many situation.

This is the other side, with three additional pockets.

Decided to keep the label. I don't know it it's good or bad but it looks like I'm going to use it, so it doesn't really matter.

Problems And Mistakes

As I said, this is my fourth bag and I'm experimenting with different designs but unfortunately my supplies are limited and in some cases have to improvise. One area is the zipper. Most of these designs need 35cm zipper but I only have 50cm zipper and have to cut it, which makes my life more harder when assembling it. There's one design that works for me and my 50cm zipper, so for now I have to stick to it.

The other problem is the color of the thread, I need to use a similar color to the jeans as I'm still learning and the tiniest mistake is visible. Maybe in time, when I'm going have more experience I can use a different color of thread. I would really love that.

This outside pocket design looks great but there's a lot of work with it, plus the small zipper costs more than the long one, which is extra expense.

What's Next

Next I'm planning on working with pieces of different shape and shade. There are so many cool designs, besides i need to use those leftovers as well, otherwise I'm going to run out of supplies as God knows when this lockdown is going to end. stay tuned as there's more to come.

Check out my other sewing posts:

• Upcycled Double Pocket Tote Bag, My 3rd One
• I Do My Own Time, Not Covid-19's
• Upcycled Double Pocket Denim Bag
• My First Bag
• My First Attempt At Creating A Bag And Learning To Sew