Repurposed jeans - denim hobo bag

As I've said before, I lost a bit of weight so I am recycling some of the clothes that do not fit anymore. One of the items I am using is an old pair of trouser jeans that are just too baggy.  I've seen a lot of denim purses lately so I thought I'd give it a go.

First, I cut out the inner leg seams as show here:

 
Then, I chopped the legs off and stitched along the open bottom to create the base of the bag.  It was pretty easy.  The natural shape lends itself to a cute little hobo bag so there you have it.

Next, I wanted to make a little "belt" for decoration since I have belt loops still attached.  To do this, I cut two strips from one pant leg, about 4 1/2" wide and divide each strip into thirds as shown here:

I braided each strip so I had two of these:

I stitched the strips together to make a belt and set them aside.  Next I had to do an interior so I chopped the bottom off of an old t-shirt and stitched the bottom closed like I did with the jeans.  It took a bit to ease the stretchy t-shirt into the denim bag but I was able to form the lining rather nicely.  

For the handle, I took two more strips from a pant leg and using the wrong side of one attached to the right side of another, created this handle:

I stitched the handle in place, wove the belt through the loops and secured them and here you have it, a cute little denim hobo with a t-shirt lining.

Machine washable, four pockets on the outside and plenty of space on the inside to say nothing of the durability of denim!  I am looking at a magnetic closure as I think stitching one small circular magnet to the inside of the back waistband would work with the pre-existing metal button.  If not, I'm going to add a cute little denim loop to cinch it closed.

This particular piece is exciting for me as it marks the opening of my Etsy store - Kharmic Chaos - where I will be posting versions of items I make for sale.  If you are interested, this is the first item!