Upcycling All My Old Jeans Into Cute Bags ♻️

I love denim bags and I love being creative. I’ve seen some complicated patterns for turning jeans into bags, but I wanted something quick and easy.

Follow along and see what I did.

Tools and materials: 

• Denim jeans or skirt
• Lining fabric
• Fabric scraps, jewelry, buttons etc for decoration
• 2 D rings
• Fabric marker
• Scissors
• Sewing machine

1. Cut the denim

Lay your jeans or skirt flat and cut straight across them at around crotch level.

Cut open the side seams and trim the lower edges.

2. Decorate

It’s much easier to do this before you join the pieces together.

Gather some fabric scraps and broken pieces of jewelry.

I drew some simple shapes on the back pockets and stitched around them.

I cut out the shapes, placed contrasting fabric pieces behind them and sewed them in place.

I sewed on some chains, buttons and beads as well. Use whatever you have available.

3. Sew the bag

Place the two pieces with right sides together and sew the side seams and lower edge.

4. Lining

Join two pieces of lining fabric in the same way.

With the bag wrong side out, place it inside the lining and sew together around the top edge.

Turn the bag right side out.

5. Handle

I made a tube of fabric of the length I wanted and sewed the edges together with the right side inside.

I turned it right side out.

I cut off two of the belt loops and threaded them through D rings.

I sewed the belt loops inside the waistband at the side seams.

Then I threaded another belt loop through each ring.

I pushed the free ends into the open ends of the strap and sewed them closed.

Cute bag from upcycled jeans

I really like using a lot of decoration on my bags! Do as much or as little as you want.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

For more sewing tips, follow me on TikTok:  @moeyslowfashion