Vintage sweater to cute shopping bag

Hi, I'm new to this blogging malarky, but not to upcycling or refashioning clothing, which I totally love as it helps me to relax and chill out whilst being creative. I'm a 100 mile an hour kind of person who always has to be doing something active, so this totally works for me as I can stay in one room for a while whilst using my hands and my imagination,the right brain part doing lots of work. I love that transforming and refashioning clothing means that I will be recycling stuff and wearing something unique. Fabric is so lovely. I will often chop it up, sometimes I sew it, or on it, or paint on it with some fabric paints or use some dyes. Sometimes I use my new hot glue gun and stick quirky findings on. I like the fact that there needs to be no plan, just see where the flow goes with it all. Sometimes an item of clothing sort of tells you what it wants to be in its next life. Jackets are a favourite, hmmm, and dresses and tops......

I like to visit second hand places for clothes, I couldn't tell you the last time I went to a 'real' shop to buy my clothes and even my day job involves setting up and managing new charity stores which means lots of my inspiration comes from donated fabric and clothing screaming out for a makeover. I love quirky and unusual fabric and vintage bits and pieces.

So, the sweater I decided to use came from a second hand shop, it's early 80's vintage Jaeger but really it needs to have a nice batwing but doesn't and when I got it home I realised the colour didn't suit me at all. I tried to dye it a nice red, hoping for a purple outcome but the dye didn't take, so it was asking for the chop with my lovely sharp scissors. I like deconstructing clothes, I really enjoy looking at the individual pieces that make up a garment.

With the long stretchy arms off, the arms sewn together became the bag strap. I sewed up the sweater base in a gentle curve with my sewing machine, back and fowards a few times to make it nice and strong so I can carry my veggies from the market on a Thursday. The ribbed hem line chopped in half became two flowers at the base of the strap and the heart detail on the front I cut from some corduroy. I attached the heart to the pretty fabric underneath and made it into a pocket that sits on the front of the bag so I can hook some pens in there in case I forget something I need to write on my shopping list. xx