Patchwork Drawstring Gift Bag

     After sewing numerous projects, one will inevitably end up with odd pieces of leftover fabric. I decided to turn some of these pieces into a patchwork drawstring bag. 

     I wanted the bag to be 8x8 inches with 2x2 inch squares, so my patchwork would have to be 16in long and 8in wide. To figure out how many squares I needed, I multiplied the desired length by the desired width to find the total area, and then divided the total area by the area of a single square:

(16*8) / (2*2) = 32 squares

    After gathering four kinds of fabric with complimentary colors and patterns, I divided the total number of squares by the four kinds of fabric to determine how many squares of each kind of fabric I would need. 

32 / 4 = 8 squares from each fabric

     After cutting out the squares, I arranged them in the desired pattern, and sewed them all together.

     In hindsight, I probably should've picked fabrics with similar textures. Since they were all different, this resulted in some uneven edges. 

     Regardless, I plowed ahead and sewed up the two sides to form the outer shell of the bag. 

     For the lining and top part of the bag, I cut out a strip of blue cloth 21 inches long and 7 1/2 inches wide, folded it over with the bad side on the outside, and sewed down each side. I left a 1 inch hole at the bottom so the bag could be flipped inside out later.

     Next, I turned the patchwork shell inside in and put it inside the lining, so that the good sides of the shell and lining were together. Then I sewed around the top.

     Reaching in through the hole at the bottom of the lining, I pulled the shell and the rest of the lining through, turning it inside in. Afterwards, I sewed the hole closed.

     Then I stuffed the lining inside the shell and pinned the bottom part so it wouldn't shift around.

     After marking a line 3/4 from the top, I sewed around the top part to create the passage for the drawstring to go through.

     I sewed a small line over the side seams so that I could unpick the small section of side seam, and allow the drawstrings to go through.

     If I had wanted to get fancy, I probably could have handstitched a nice seam around the hole. But I decided against the extra work since the fabric wasn't the type to easily unravel. 

     Finally, I inserted two cords and tied them off.

     As you can see, the bag is not 8x8, as I had intended. The dimensions of the finished bag are 6in wide and 8in long. Regardless, I'm still quite happy with how it turned out. 

Turning Two Shirts into a Jacket

   I've had this plaid button down shirt for some time, and though I loved the color and pattern, it was too bulky and didn't fit correctly.

   After scrolling through Pinterest and searching my drawers, I found a polo shirt of the same shade of blue, and decided to turn the two shirts into something like a bomber jacket.
 

   First, I removed the collar, buttons, and cuffs, and detached the sleeves from the plaid shirt.

   
   I wanted to have blue stripes running down the sleeves and also across the upper back of the jacket. This would also make the sleeves bigger and more jacket-like. So I cut out four, four inch wide strips from the blue shirt and inserted them into the sleeves of the plaid shirt.
 

   Next, I cut out three more pieces from the blue shirt (also four inches in width) and inserted it into the upper body of the plaid shirt.
 

   

   Then came the hardest part: lining up the blue stripes and reattaching the sleeves.

   They lined up nearly perfectly.

   Time for the cuffs! I cut out two square pieces from the blue shirt, making sure I could easily slide my hand in and out, folded the pieces over, and sewed down the vertical side, forming a tube. 

   Then I folded over the tops of the cuffs so that the seams were hidden inside the tube, pinned them to the sleeves, and sewed them down, stretching the cuffs to match the width of the sleeves. 
 

   After trying on the jacket, I marked where I wanted the waistband and trimmed the bottom of the shirt. 

    I cut three more pieces from the blue shirt, sewed them together, folded it in half, pinned the raw edge to the bottom of the jacket (making sure to line up the seams), and sewed it down. 
 

   Next, the jacket needed a zipper. I hand stitched the zipper to the jacket first before sewing it down with the machine. 
 

   The waistband seam almost matched up. 
 

   Finally, the collar. I cut off the collar from the blue shirt, trimmed it a bit, and then sewed it onto the jacket.
 

    Voila! The jacket is finished.