Old dresses into new messenger bags

I know I said I was going to do a post about the Crisis being one now but I got side tracked. I might get back to that some other time (I might not too, knowing me). Anyway, here is a project that I was madly unpicking clothes for.

I have wanted to get Esther and Ellamay a messenger type bag for ages now mainly so they could carry their asthma medication with them anywhere they went. I wasn't keen on buying bags because the ones I had seen were too big, too small, too ugly, too poor quality or too expensive. (Or all of the above). I decided to make some. I can make things and they are much nicer than the bought ones (sometimes). I had problems then trying to find a bag that was right and easy enough for me to make. Then I came across this great tutorial for a messenger bag using old jeans. YEAH! The tutorial has the size of the fabric at 26x10 inches and I changed it up to 28x11 inches and increased the length of the strap also.

The three girls all had some dresses that they had grown out of. They really were too worn out to hand on but I couldn't just throw them away, they were so nice. Making them into bags was perfect. So here you are. Esther and Ellamay wearing the dresses (I think they are about 4 years old here).

Esther's new bag. The design on the flap was on the bottom of the front panel of her dress.

I love the owl.

And here is Ellamay's bag.

I used the lining from the dresses to line the bags too. Though there wasn't quite enough from Ellamay's dress so I just used extra from Esther's. Her dress was a wrap around dress so there was more fabric in it.

Here is Amelia wearing her dress. This dress was a size 0 and she is only 8 months old in this photo.

And here is Amelia's bag. Her bag turned out a little bigger than the other two because I was trying to get the two front pockets on the front flap. And because the dress was only a size zero, I had to use a lot of other fabric to make up the rest of the bag.

I made a pocket inside them and because it was funny to me, I sewed in the tags from the dresses. :-)

I am feeling quite proud of myself for actually getting them done. The kids love them and have been using them just like I hoped. Thank you Tim for taking the kids out on the weekend so I could have a sewing day. :-)

I wouldn't mind making a bigger version for myself. I will just add that to my list of possible sewing projects (that is a long one). Not a bad start to the year. January hasn't even finished and I have completed a project. Or is that three projects. Yes. Then I really have achieved.

Have a great week.