Denim jacket to satchel refashion

I absolutely adore refashioning items with a history (or should that be story?) into something wonderful and new.

So when I was asked to refashion an original Levi's denim jacket which had been embroidered by the owner's wife-to-be half a century ago, I jumped at the chance.  Sure, it was a little tentative - what if it went wrong?  You certainly can't get another one of these! 

And that is the beauty of sewing for me - to produce unique items which capture a moment in time for somebody else. 

We agreed that it would be made into a satchel.

The front of the jacket was embroidered with a rainbow and had a branch on the lapel.

While the back had a ram emblazoned on it.

I looked for some fabric to line the soon-to-be satchel.  Nothing seemed 'right' to me.  Then I remembered that I had a denim shirt from the same lady that I could use - and it would tone really well.

Before even thinking about cutting into the jacket, I had to plan where each part was going to go.  I figured that the ram from the back panel was to go on the back and along the top of the satchel.

The front of the satchel was created from part of the sleeve - I thought it looked good with the seam running down it.

Try as I might, there was not enough 'satchel' to incorporate the rainbow.  So I placed it in the front pocket.  Well, the best things in life are hidden until you realise they are there, aren't they?

And of course that meant that the pot of gold was in there too using applique.

I had a bit of luck with the side of the front pocket - it appeared that the waistband of the jacket was the precise width that I needed.  So that was incorporated too; press studs and all - I do so love retaining as much of the original item as possible.

The Ralph Lauren shirt was used for the interior, the interior pocket and the strap and side-release buckle tabs.

The strap itself together with the satchel gusset was made from a pair of jeans.

And the branch was appliqued onto the top of the satchel.

One embroidered denim jacket satchel!

One fabric memory :)

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Embroidered denim bag - or is it a skirt?

I came across a delicious embroidered denim skirt in a charity shop one day - it was too nice to leave there so I brought it home.  I spotted its potential from a mile off!

Of course I immediately thought - bag - but I wasn't quite sure where to start - what with all those thick seams between the gores and everything.

Those roses are quite something, aren't they?

After much humming and harring I eventually figured out that I could cut the skirt between two gores and keep the design relatively straightforward.  I just had to go with what I'd been given on this one!

What I hadn't banked on was that each of those gores not only had a different hem length but they also were different widths!  That had me scratching my head as to how to do that, but I finally identified two sets of mildly equal gores and began cutting the skirt up.

 

The front of the bag lent itself more to a label so I used the three rose panel for the front and the four rose panel for the back.  Sure I could have made two bags (I have enough roses left over to open a florists!) but I wanted this bag to be special.

 

Initially the bottom corners of the bag were pointy but I curved the edges slightly to give it a better shape while still making sure that the rose embroidery wasn't cut into.

While on a different foray into a charity shop I discovered a teal coloured sheet.  It virtually begged me to be used as the lining for a bag.  I love the denim and teal together - must be my new favourite colour combination!

There's even a pocket in there too!

I chose not to add a magnetic snap fastener as the top of the bag is quite narrow anyway due to the constraints of the gores.

Oh, and I needn't have worried about the thick seams on the gores - my needle was fine with them and they virtually disappeared in the end result.

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