Nifty Thrifty Bag Challenge

Craftster is my new online home... and it's down right now! Which is so frustrating because today is the last day for the Nifty Thrifty Bag Challenge; and I've made an awesome entry - that I have to finish the handle for before I post (to Craftster)!

I took a very old men's black overcoat and turned it into a vertical hanging messenger bag. I don't know the content of the coat fabric, but it didn't felt in the wash, and it's extemely soft - and linty! It took forever to take apart, the lining was sewn to the coat in so many places. I tried to salvage as much yardage as I could, I knew I wanted to make a bag for my laptop (even though I have a very nice one LOL!), and I knew I wanted it to have piping (welting) so I knew I'd need a lot.

After I decided what to use, I had to then figure out what to make. So, I hopped over to Bluefly to look at expensive bag shapes to copy. Lo and behold there was a lovely little 1-grand number by Dolce&Gabbana - just begging to be tweaked for my purposes! It's appx. 15" square, black leather with a fold-over flap closure. It has chain straps and a leather handle - I didn't care for the gold tone metal details, I prefer silver. It's got a magnetic closure (these can be pricey, I used a button for mine), leopard lining with an interior zip pocket.


My version is 11" wide by 13" tall & 2" deep. It has a fold-over flap that closes with a beaded loop over a button from the coat I reconstructed for this challenge. It has matching piping (5/8"wide), purple satin lining with a patch pocket (with embroidery detail!), chrome plated chain straps and a leather handle.

In order to qualify for the Nifty Thrifty Challenge, I had to spend 5$ or less on my bag. The chain straps were dog collars, 2 for 1.49$ each, and I bought 10ft of nylon rope to fill the piping @0.15 a foot. Total cost was 4.50$ The coat was a thrift store find a decade ago, the leather handle came from my husband's old motorcycle jacket, the purple poly satin was left over from a Christmas present for my sister's husband....and I think that's it!

I was originally going to applique a skull & crossbones onto the back out of a lovely ivory cashmere sweater. When I realized I only had a week to complete this challenge I had to nix it :( - it's too bad, I vectored a cool skull all custom just for me!