Tutorial: Turn a T into a bag!

Hello there! I am super excited today to show you what I made TODAY!
And I thought that as I went along, I would take photo's. The idea that if it flopped, it was no biggy, no one would know and I could ditch the pic's (and evidence!) but that if it looked half decent, I would post a tut on it, soooo....yup, it came out half decent!

This Tut will show you how to take a little knitted top or crocheted top that you don't wear anymore and turn it into a bag!(maybe it's too small or you just don't wear it anymore) In my case, I love it...but it requires waaaaaay too much cleavage, something I don't have!!! It was one of those impulsive buys...you know...."I shall buy it....I shall wear wonderbra's with this . I shall look fantastic.".....

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It didn't work...

so plan B.....

Okay so first of all, all you do is turn the little top inside out...


Then place it on top of some fabric that you want to use for lining. these knitted tops or crocheted tops require lining if you are going to turn them into bags, cos they are so "holey".
All you do is draw around the top from where the back line starts to the bottom of the tee and across the bottom and up the other side.{in pencil on the WRONG side of the fabric}

Then take your fabric and fold it in half with the right sides facing each other.
I did a rough sketch to show you what I mean...(right click to view in new window and click to enlarge)

Now you have two pieces.

now you are going to iron in or fold in a 1cm seam all the way around your piece of fabric and then tack it to your shirt {the shirt must be inside out}

Once you have done that, then simply sew all 4 sides {both pieces of fabric either side}


Then you can turn it the right way and admire it for a few seconds....
back to work....make sure to squish the corners out.


Now you will have to cut the straps of the top because you will notice they won't be in the right direction for a bag! So simply cut them each in half and rejoin them -each strap must be joined to the strap on the same side.
Now it's time to embellish it!!
I made some crocheted flowers and sewed them on with buttons to the front of my bag.

And here is the finished bag!! I guess I love this because it looks like a top but it's a bag!! and of course I love to recycle and invent things out of other things!

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This is what you see inside....


You can see the bottom of the bag...didn't worry too much about the inside seam...but I love pretty lining!! You could finish it off with a zip or press-studs or close it off with a buckle...whatever you want.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!! I would LOVE to hear your comments....