Skirt to Tote Bag
Usually people get in touch with Revival Works to do some mending or repairs to their garments, so I was a little bit challenged when a lady got in touch with me recently.
She told me she had a skirt in her wardrobe that she had owned for many years and never worn and was unlikely to ever wear. But she couldn’t part with it as she loved the fabric with its brightly coloured embroidery on it and the scalloped edging at the bottom of the skirt. So she asked me to make a Tote Bag out of her skirt, that way she could make good use of it without throwing it away or thrifting it.
No one has asked me to make a Tote Bag out of a skirt before…but I was up for it! After all The Great British Sewing Bee has just finished on TV, (no social invitations accepted by me on a Thursday night for months!) so I was feeling all creative and inspired.
Out came my scissors and a deep breath later I had cut off the waistband. My client had also asked for the bag to be lined…the skirt was already lined, so then I got to thinking that I could use a heavier material to line the bag with and not use the lining currently in the skirt. But “HOLD ON, that would be really wasteful” I thought. I could make a “Zero Waste” bag out of this skirt, so I would need to use the existing lining and the waistband could be the straps.
I closed the little split in the back on the skirt, made the scalloped edge the top of the bag, added the “waistband” straps, attached the skirt lining to become bag lining and voila, a Tote Bag appeared.
The only “wastage” was the skirt zip (which can be reused in another project) and the skirt clasp (again can be reused elsewhere) and a small strip of the skirt lining.
I took the skirt label off and resewed it to the inside of the Tote Bag to remind my client that her bag was once a skirt hehe.
I am very pleased with the outcome of this project and will endeavour to embrace further transformation challenges should they come my way again! I am also pleased that in the end, the only materials I used of my own for this project was thread and nothing else.
“Love Your Clothes Longer”
Cheers
Kirsten