It Starts With A Pair Of Pants ...

Hi everyone!  Sorry I dropped off for a bit there!  Today I'd like to show you a fun bag I made for a friend of mine.  She had admired the denim purse I was carrying ... so I offered to make her one.  Not necessarily one like it, but a bag.  (Just as a gesture, one friend to another; I'm not going back into the "business"!). So ... as the title of this post states, it starts with a pair of pants!

They were my husband's. I'm sure he was done with them. At least he is now. 😀. No, really. He was. They are nice, sturdy pants made from a lovely sort of brushed denim? I'm not sure. But very soft yet strong fabric. And LOTS of pockets! I ❤️ pockets!

My friend spends a lot of time outdoors - she's my birding buddy, plus she is out with her Border Collies a lot, does a lot of hiking, etc. I wanted something pretty, yet functional and sort of outdoorsy.  I thought this fabric was perfect for the lining:

And what goes together better than grey and blue?!?  OK, maybe blue and white, but let's move on!

I cut a nice large rectangle around some of the pockets.  I wanted the bag to be a bit larger, so I added some denim panels to the sides.  I also cut two other pockets out to use inside the bag:

It seemed like a good plan!

I used a variegated black to white thread to sew the pockets onto the lining, and to do a little quilting:

You can't see it there, but I also decided since the bandana-looking fabric was quilt-weight cotton, I should put some interfacing on it.  I used some fusible that I have.  It no longer fuses.  That could have been why I did some quilting on the inside.

Anyway, panels all set and ready to build a bag:

Honestly, men's pants have the BEST pockets!  There were all sizes; I used as many as I could!

Here's one side of the bag, pinned to the ZIPPER (I know!) and set to sew:

Obviously, you can see my non-fused fusible interfacing there.  I also put two lines of stitching at the bottom of every pocket, just for added strength.

Here's an action shot:

Pins are your friends; just don't sew over them.

I was watching a quilt video the other morning while I was tread-milling and all I could think was, "Wow, she uses almost as many pins as I do!"  LOL.  Seriously.  I must pin.

Ready for the "ta-da moment"?  Here it is:

Very pleased with how it came together.  Here is a closer look at the "grab and go" straps:

They are extra-wide, then I sewed them in half so they'd be more comfy to hold onto.  They are made from seatbelt webbing.

And look at that double zipper!!!  I think it's from an old backpack.

Here's the other side of the bag:

And finally, a peek inside:

You can't have too many pockets - right?!?

I had a blast making this!  It was a total free-form kind of thing - I had no plan, just used what I had and had fun with it.  What a great project!  I hope my friend likes using it as much as I liked making it!

Thanks for reading!
KZK