Blue-Dress-Turned-Into-Bag is Done!

Big enough to hold a laptop, hanging low at the hips, and with lots of little pockets inside and out, the bag is done and delivered. (Not sure why it took me eight months!)

I started off by unpicking all the seams. Then I ironed the pieces flat, as needed, and figured out how to add them back together.

The bust of the dress…

…became the top of the bag. I sewed the neck straps together near their ends to form a shoulder strap, with the neckline area in between forming one side (the “front”) of the bag.

The rest of the bust piece wasn’t wide enough to meet up around back. So, using some extra fabric from the skirt, I sewed another piece with the same curve as the front and sewed it on as the “back.”

And those short extra bits that weren’t wide enough to meet became two little exterior pockets. Not sure what you’d put in them. Certainly not a great spot for a flat little wallet, even if it does fit.

The bodice, which included a see-through white mesh (one reason Jenny didn’t want to actually wear the dress)…

…was turned upside-down and added to the top front of the bag, forming two more pockets.

I added the little bow to hide a black mark showing the original dressmaker where the center of the neckline was. In its former life, the bow was a small piece of the ribbon edging on the skirt.

Speaking of the skirt, essentially a “plus sign” with a hole it in, I first changed the circular hole to more of an oval shape, then attached the skirt to the top of the bag…

…to become the pleated bottom of the bag.

Finally it was time for the inside. One side got a bound pocket and a little “made by k” label.

On the other side, the shirred back of the dress…

…became two pockets that can hold small stuff—like a flat little wallet—nice and snug, but could also stretch to hold something bigger. A cell phone or tissue packet. Or two. Or five!

There wasn’t too much of the dress leftover once I was done (though after taking the photo below, I found some more pieces, including one big uncut rectangle from the skirt).

And it sure was a lot of fun, figuring out where to put all the pieces. May it be a nice addition to your bag collection, Jenny.