Recycled Pocket Purse

Dan's work pants frequently need repairing....especially the right knee (from kneeling to open boxes).  I mend them until it isn't "worth it" to mend them more and then he gets new pants and I save the old pants for mending the new pants. The last time I got out the "old" pants to mend the "new" pants, I saw the pockets and had an "Eureka" moment!  This is what came out of it....

And this is how I did it....

Nice big cargo pockets!

I ended up making a 2nd purse out of the back pockets

The strap would be as long as the pants were long

Knee that has been patched many times over

Pocket cut out

I made my strap pieces 3" so that they would end up 2" wide (1/2" seams)

Cutting the strap pieces apart

I made the piece for the bottom and sides 1 1/2"
longer than the measurement around the 3 sides of the purse

I didn't have enough "fabric" to make the 2nd strap 3" each
because of the hole in the knee

I had to pick off the belt loops to get pieces big enough

This is what I ended up with for the 2nd strap....I had to pick open the seam and trim it off

What was left of the pair of pants!

My pieces ready to sew

I rolled a narrow hem at the top edge and sewed it down

Sandwich the 2 side pieces to one pocket (right sides facing the pocket)

Fold over 1/2" on ends of strap before sewing edge
On the strap I didn't have enough room, I just folded it in half
so I didn't need the 2nd seam - this is a better idea anyway!

Leave a little ease for the corners

Sew ☺

How cool is that?

Pin the inside and top stitch close to the edge to hold it



The strap that I cut in half needed 2 seams!

Pin outside layer out of the way (See note at end)

Pin on 2nd pocket

Make sure the right side is correct!

Since I was sewing the outside of the bottom/side to the 2nd pocket
the pocket needed to be facing down

Turned inside out, I pinned the raw edge under

Turned right side out again

Sew along the edge

I used a long stitch length and a heavy duty needle

I used my zipper foot

NOTE: When I make more, I will sew the inside of the purse to the 2nd pocket so that when you sew the edge down, it will be the outside of the pocket and you can control what it looks like.  The way I did it originally, the outside didn't always look so nice!