Upcycling An Old Dress Into A Travel Tote Bag

Hello everyone, I’m so excited to show you my first upcycling project of the year. I’ve had this dress for about 10 years and the only thing I like about the dress are the sleeves. I hated the dress from the very first day I saw it till today. It was a matter of what I wanted vs what I got. The seamstress sewed a whole different dress for me and I still don’t know why.

For a long time, I wanted to give the dress out but one thing about me is that I don’t like to give out something I hate. So I decided to turn it into something else. I thought so hard about what to make from the dress. I got the inspo last weekend. I was going a trip with my mom and she didn’t want to go with any suitcase. I also didn’t want to go with any big bag because most of these bags are heavy and become more heavier after you pack your clothes in them.

We already had just 30 minutes to leave the house so that meant I had 20 minutes to finish whatever I was trying to make and then 10 minutes to fold my things into the bag.

I decided to make a travel tote bag. I didn’t have a zipper so I decided to just make it like a normal tote bag. Although it wasn’t going to have a zipper, I wanted it big enough to contain all that I was carrying.

I started by dismantling the parts of the dress. I wanted to unpick but I didn’t have time so I just used a scissors to cut them. I then cut the folded edge at the bottom so I that it can be used as the handle of the bag since it was thick enough.

I began by folding the upper edges to secure the ends from fraying.

I then moved on to the bottom corner of the bag and then stitched it to give it that travel bag effect.

I then put the parts together to know how to attach the handle to the body of the bag. I then attached the handle and stitched it. For some reason, the stitches wasn’t good so I kept on double sewing just so it doesn’t unpick by itself. And I was done.

Gallery

The best part of this bag was that my mom didn’t know I was making it. When I began, she was in her room seriously looking for a bag so I could pack my things inside. I heard her saying she wasn’t getting any so I would have to use a suitcase. So by the time she came out with the suitcase, I was holding the bag in my hand. She literally smiled and “eii you this girl, well done”. I’m happy I was able to save the day.
Thank you for your time.

Images are mine

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