How to DIY a Fun Crossbody Bag From Old Jeans
In this video, I will show you how to make a quick and easy, one-of-a-kind jean crossbody bag. By using one leg of a pair of old jeans, you get one deep pocket in your DIY jean bag, making it really useful.
All you will need for this denim upcycle is a pair of old jeans and a few basic tools. You can choose to use a sewing machine or sew by hand. You’ll even learn to do simple crocheting!
Tools and materials:
- Old jeans
- Felt scraps
- Knitting yarn
- Tape measure
- Scissors
- Fabric chalk
- Thread
- Sewing needle
- Crochet hook
- Sewing machine (optional)
- Hot glue gun
1. Cut your denim
Measure and mark 42 centimeters (16.5 inches) up from the hem of one jeans leg.
Draw a horizontal line across the leg at that mark, and cut the denim through both layers of one leg.
2. Make the basic bag shape
Turn your denim tube inside out and sew the cut edge closed, using a zigzag stitch.
Press the denim flat on the right side.
Fold over the top of the bag to make the flap.
3. Crochet a crossover strap
I used heavy yarn to make my strap.
Cast one stitch of yarn onto a crochet hook, with a long starting tail, as in 1:10 – 1:20 in the video.
Follow the crochet stitching in the video from 1:20 to 1:33 to create a crocheted crossbody strap to your preferred length.
Make a knot at the end of your crocheted strap. Leave a long tail, and cut the yarn.
4. Attach the strap
Separate the tail of the strap yarn into two, and thread on half of the tail through your needle.
At the point where the bag will fold over, insert your threaded needle just next to the side seam of your bag, from the outside of the bag to the inside.
Pull just that half of the tail through the bag and remove the yarn from your needle.
Now, thread the other half of the tail into the needle, and pass it through your bag next to the previous stitch.
On the inside of the bag, knot the two tail pieces together.
Snip the excess tail thread above the knot.
Repeat this step with the other end of the strap on the other side of the bag.
5. Make decorative appliques
I chose to make autumn leaf appliques to decorate the front of my bag.
First, I pressed some lovely fall leaves in a book, so I could trace them onto my felt.
Cut out your appliques and draw on any details you want.
Stitch around the edge of the applique and over any of the details you want to show.
Position your appliques on the front of your bag and use a hot glue gun to attach them to the denim.
DIY jean crossbody bag
You’ve finished making your deep pocket crossover jean bag, and now you can fill it with all your essentials!
Everything is so easy to access in this DIY bag – just flip up the flap and in you go. And it’s machine washable too!
Leave a comment to let me know if you made your upcycled denim jean crossbody bag, and how it turned out.
The author may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.
Comments
Join the conversation