Recycle a Scarf into a Bag 1

I posted a short while ago about taking part in Barbara's creative Bag challenge to recycle a scarf into a bag.

Well, the following day on my way home from work I decided to go to the Charity shop because I do not really wear scarves very much but thinking that this would be a good project for work I decided that £1.50 was worth it.

I have had this book for a couple of years...

and there are clear instructions on how to make a wide range of bags, one of which is out of a scarf...

What I also like about this book is the hand-drawn diagrams and illustrations.

The instructions asked for a scarf measuring 20cm x 60cm (a rectangle) I could only get a square!

So the first thing I did was to cut the scarf into three equal parts, therefore making three much smaller bags but I wanted to test out the idea and use what I had found. Three goes at making them.

With the longest edge nearest to you fold the fabric into three equal sections, mark the folds with pins and then open up. Using your left hand fold the first third in so that it covers and lays on the second third and the pin along the top edge as shown in the photo.

Stitch to the end of this third using straight stitch.

Once that top third edge has been stitched remove from the sewing machine. Using your left hand again take the bottom right hand corner and bring it up to the edge that you have just stitched. (see above).
Fold the last third back over the section that you have just folded so that it is sandwiched underneath. This pin along the edge nearest to you as shown in the photo. With this seam I would make sure that you use a reverse stitch either end to strengthen the seam. Once I had done this I looked at it and thought "this looks nothing like a bag", but wait! I turned it inside out and laid it out on the table so that it looks like this...

Now I was feeling a lot more hopeful here. Take the two points and bring them together and tie into a secure knot.

Hopefully it will look like this. Due to not having the right sized scarf in the first place my handle does not look very big but I think this gives a good idea of how it should look. I made up two and the third one I am going to show my Year 10 group on Friday as we have just started a bag project and hopefully impress them.... well I can only hope.

In this picture I have put a few small items in to just show you it working. What I really like about this idea I that you can un-do the knot, fold it up and put it in your car, handbag or as the bag suggests in your top pocket for decoration. So a bright jazzy scarf would be a good idea for this bag..

This is a really fun and nifty way to recycle a scarf and having the correct size would make a good sized bag. I am definitely going to make another and pursue this idea further. Hope this makes sense, even if you do not have a scarf to use just try a length of fabric, as long as it is three times as long as it is wide and have a go.

I am off to tell Barbara!

PS I had loads more hits/visits to Indigo Blue yesterday and I would like to say hello if you are a new visitor and perhaps you would like to comment on this tutorial. The book is worth buying too. Lovely to look and lots of ideas.