cross-body

design bag with hologram details plus one old necklace

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This bags idea I got from fabric sofa samples which I found from Kontti second hand store in Finland. Here I connected evenly measured stripes together with zig zag seam and created a modern and sharp background for my holographic decorations. I used earlier these small triangle shaped vinyl decorations for my wristlets to Intercoiffure Finland fashion photoshoot and now after few years “resting”  they still do the trick in this diy bag.

Pattern needed to have right dimensions for the small sized bag so I tried out different variations and found the one that worked for this design.

Strap is made out of old necklace, really thick but light metal chain. Tassel is the pendant from the necklace. Ones again totally recycled bag, every part of it is reused material.

 

My friend called the pattern “Iris” – the blue royal flower. I like the name. Let the bag shine like royalty but act cool and streetwise when needed.

diy bag from fabric sofa samples with holographic details

multicolored small leather bag

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Small bag made out of different colored leather.

I had a stash of small leather left over pieces in different colors and textures which one day started to grow into a canvas by joining  the parts together and this “canvas” suddenly into a bag. Shoulder strap is an old belt fastened to the bag with reused jacket parts. Tassel is my own design, giving the bag unique finishing with a wooden animal as the “spirit” of the bag.

Kurume kasuri goku masu

/ Susanoo

Bought Susan Briscoes book Japanese quilt blocks to mix & match from a craft fair in Finland few years ago and the amount of inspiration it`s given me! This denim bag started from the idea to have just one big  quilt block instead of several small ones and the pattern is called Kurume kasuri goku masu- five squares.

 

Struggled a bit with the scale but finally got it right!

Super happy with the end result! All denim used are from old jeans, shoulder strap is old leather belt and the lining is made out of old skirt. So again 100% recycled!

"Kurume kasuri goku masu- five squares" patterned denim quilt bag with second hand belt

"Kurume kasuri goku masu- five squares" denim quilt bag on the fitting torso

shiny leather bag with zig zag pattern

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Recycling second hand leather jacket

This black leather bag with modest shine is actually a gift so the size of the bag and as well the color combinations are carefully thought trough. Inside the bag needs to fit a smart phone, wallet and home/car keys and the person who is going to to get this likes shades of black and grey…and of course silver color. For easy carrying cross body the strap is longer and a flap with magnetic clasp safeguards carried important items inside the bag.

I took apart my latest second hand bargain, long black leather jacket and cut the parts for the bag from the back and the sleeves of the jacket.  Adding silver colored leather stripe decorations (cut out with my Fiskars zig zag scissors) enhances the shape and personalizes the whole bag. I used the same zig zag pattern in strap fastenings and in the lining.

Unique details with Fiskars zig zag scissors

diy-black-and-silver-leather-bag-with-matching-details

diy-leather-bag-with-silver-colored-leather-details

diy-black-and-silver-colored-leather-bag-with-unique-details

diy-black-and-silver-leather-bag-with-matching-tassel

 

striped clutch

/ Susanoo

diy striped leather and suede clutch made out of old trousers

diy striped leather and suede clutch made out of old trousers

Zero waste clutch bag; made out of old suede trousers and a white leather vest into my all time favourite clean and graphic pattern stripes. Pattern that looks good with almost any outfit you choose. Triangle decorations on the sides add interest and more body to the clutch. By adding the option that I can wear this bag also on my shoulder makes it more versatile, although the solid purpose is clutch in which only the necessary items fits in, such as lipstick, keys and my phone.

Tämä laukku sai alkunsa inventoidessani nahkavarastojani. Löysin palan hiekanväristä nahkaa ja mustaa mokkaa joista leikkasin samanlevyisiä, suorakaiteen muotoisia paloja. Ompelin palat yhteen värejä vuorotellen ja aikani valmista nahkapintaa katsellessani päätin tehdä siitä kädessä kannettavan laukun, clutchin. Laukun sivuihin ompelin tehokeinoksi “kolmio”nahkasomisteen, näin laukku sai myös yksilöllisen ilmeen. Lisäsin laukkuun olkahihnan joka näin muuntaa kädessä kannettavan myös olalla pidettäväksi. Olkahihnaa vaihtamalla laukun saa myös nopeasti päivitettyä asukokonaisuuteen sopivaksi. Irrotettava metallinen olkahihna löytyi kirpparilta mutta hihnaksi käy myös vaikka ohut vyö. Clutch ei ole tilaihme mutta mukaan mahtuu kätevästi kuitenkin kaikki tarpeellinen.

 

zig zag cross stitch bag

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Cross stitching crazyness! Really how can people give/throw away these beautiful and extra nicely stitched piece of art works? I believe there will be a time when these vintage cross stitch handcrafts will be worth gold.

But until that, let`s do a bag out of one zig zag patterned, thrifted cross stitch. It was a pillow cover when I found it from second hand Erikshjälpen Jönköping. Mostly when I come across these old handicrafts they are pillow covers or wall decorations. The colors on this one are bold and I like how the lilac color pops up from the whole palette. I had a piece of brown leather from one earlier project and decided to go towards gold color in the metallic parts and decorations. For the lining I choose sturdy denim so the bag will stay in shape even when empty.

 

Again all parts fort this bag are recycled from second hand bags. My mission is to buy as little as possible straight from the craft stores but to do a bag with good and functional elements requires a lot of different metallic parts. Such as magnetic closures which I usually take apart from my second hand bags. Handles and straps are also quite tricky;  to do a long leather strap requires a lot of good leather and usually that is hard to achieve with leftover leather scraps, so again second hand bags to the rescue!

I am pleased how solid the outcome is, all colors match together and even the gold colored labels fit in with the look.

diy bag photoshoot by the waterside with hand lettered board

diy bag with recycled cross stitch and leather

diy vintage cross stitch bag photoshoot by waterside with thriftwood

 

 

 

 

Three T-shirts

/ Susanoo

There is a number of ways you can repurpose a basic jersey tee—everything from braided accessories to full-blown woven rugs. It is all about making yarn out of your old, worn and torn T-shirts…and it is super easy just check out these instructions. For my bag I used three old T-shirts and the color stripes I crocheted horizontally…I did not decide the pattern or shape of the bag beforehand, I just went with the flow. When the bag was ready I came up with the idea to add long shoulder strap so that it would be easy also to carry the bag across my chest. Tassels I made out of black cotton yarn and by adding two different buttons I wanted to underline bags rugged hippie look…and buttons are of course vintage!diy crochet bag made out of old t-shirts with old button from the 50´s

black / white / studs /// repeat

/ Susanoo

I am so into stripes at the moment. Black and white can not ever go wrong, timeless color combination and easy to mix and match with a variety of other colors and styles. Material for this bag is cut from second hand leather jacket and trousers…the white jacket is already several years old. Stripes are 3mm wide and I joined the pieces together by zig zag stitch.

Lining for the bag is denim that also supports bags structure. Shoulder strap is taken from another bag and the studs and other metal pieces are also recycled from old bags. Pattern and placement of the studs are irregular…it needs to feel like the deco just “rain” on the bag.

diy bag with stripes and studs, all parts recycled

diy bag with stripes and studs, all parts recycled

cheetah print bag

/ Susanoo

Thrifted the skirt already while ago and did not really know what do with it. Animal print; black spots on turqoise, glittering base is not really my type of fabric but this crazy combo could work on some smaller surface. Inspiration for the shape I got from a round leather bag and I wanted to experiment the shape on this fabric. Adding some support inside to keep the form as round as possible was necessary and using foamy placemat cut into shape worked out perfectly. The shoulder strap and zipper are both thrifted, it is amazing how much accessories for sewing you can find second hand for only few euros…these things usually build up the price on a bag but in this case the total cost for the bag was 5€. Oh and the denim jacket is also second hand…just adding a lot of different fabric patches to make it fab!

diy cheetah print bag from old skirt

monochrome with batwing sleeves

/ Susanoo

Super easy and comfy striped blouse. When I visit Finland I usually always visit Eurokangas fabric store. They have huge section for fabrics that are already cut on different sizes and priced by weight. It is exiting to dig into these big boxes cause you never know what to find. This time I was lucky to dig up a pice of black and white striped fabric and knew immediately what to do out of it. I draw the pattern using my old blouse as the base. These type of sleeves are called batwing sleeves.

cutting out the batwing sleeve shirt from striped fabric

The hem I left raw…it is actually the end of the fabric so it had already kinda nice structure in it.

 

diy striped batwing sleeve blouse with raw hem

Little X pouch is one of my designs to carry your smart phone in. Matching the stylish theme of black and white I included it in the photoshoot. Love the blouse- easy to mix and match.

diy striped batwing sleeve blouse with leather pouche X

 

diy striped blouse with batwing sleeves

pouches with art

/ Susanoo

For carrying mobile phone cross-body. All pouches are made from recycled materials; denim, leather and all the metal parts are from thrifted bags or jewellery. Lining is made out of old scarves, as long as they have silky and smooth surface to easily slide in and take out the phone. I used various type of cords for the strap…from shoe laces to self made ones.

Some of the pouches I painted and stamped with lines and circles and the swiss cross symbol was just perfect for the more simplified and sharp look. Love to use also washing instructions from old garments as decoration.

Now I just need to find homes for these unique pouches…

diy denim pouches black and white artsy picture

work in process stamping, painting and decorations

flower power

/ Susanoo

diy crochet fringe bag and converseThis crochet fringe bag was born in wintertime in Finland Lappland. I found second hand a box filled with untouched black cotton blend yarn rolls. I knitted and crocheted many various things out of the yarn but this bag became my favourite. In my mind I was carrying it in snowy scenery because it looked kind of winterish and warm finished but when I unpacked it in summer I realized how perfectly it even fits summertime also!

It is crocheted with a big sized hook into a rectangle piece and then folded to the shape of a bag and hand stitched together from the sides. Fringes add the hippie look and I also placed some silver colored buttons on the flap to make the bag stand out.

flash! bang!

/ Susanoo

Jersey fabric from the golden 90´s with some bold statements on. The words were so cool and graffitilike so I cut them out and sew them on denim. I have a pro camerabag for my Canon but it is quite big and boring and often I just want to carry with me only the camera when I go on a photoshoot- so why not carry it in a cool and funny bag! I padded the bag with foam to secure the camera from getting any hits. Shoulderstrap is long enough to carry the bag across shoulder to hip and it is made from an old canvasbelt. The denim tassel was originally created for another project but by adding a wooden pearl to it tassel was a perfect match with my new bag.

diy camera bag out of 90`s print fabric and denim tassel

diy camera bag out of 90´s print fabric and denim tassel

striped skin

/ Susanoo

Narrow stripes cut free hand out of leather. The stripes I arranged first so that the colors flow evenly and the outcome is interesting. Then connected the pieces by sewing them together on top of each other. Bag closes with magnetic clasps and the shoulder strap is long enough to carry the bag cross body. The flap I decorated with shorter leather strips and left the edges raw.

Epäsymmetrisen raidallista nahkapintaa pitkiä paloja yhdistämällä. Leikkasin vapaalla kädellä mustaa, valkoista ja beigeä nahkaa pitkiksi suikaleiksi jotka yhdistin päälleompelulla toisiinsa. Sommittelin nahkapaloille järjestyksen ensin lattialla, sain siten tasaisen mutta vaihtelevan pinnan väreihin. Laukun läppään ompelin somisteeksi suikalepinnasta ylijääneen osan ja se kätkee alleen myös kiinnitysmekanismin, magneettinepparit. Kantohihnan mitoitin niin että laukkua on kätevä kantaa olan yli ristiin. Laukku on ehdottomasti katseenvangitsija jolloin vaatetuksen voi sävyttää laukun värimaailman mukaan.

leather stripes bag

leather stripes bag

leather stripes bag

carry camo

/ Susanoo

Camouflage pattern is a versatile one, it works nicely both in accessories and clothes. In fashion it is never out, you just need to know how much, which color and how to wear it. Here you have Versace playing with this iconic pattern. This bag was ordered from me, customer needed a roomy and unique bag to carry her laptop and paperwork in. From the ring you can hang your very own trinkets, customize it!

Olalla kannettava maastokangaskuosinen kassi. Kuosi nousee esiin ajoittain muotitrendeihin ja laukun kokoinen maastopala oli jo muutaman vuoden ollut minulla jemmassa. Camokuosia näkee kaikissa sävyissä mutta perinteinen maastoväritys on  henkilökohtainen suosikkini. Laukku on tilava, sinne saa hyvin mahtumaan läppärin, papereita ja lempilehdet. Laukun reunan koristelin niiteillä ja sulkijarenkaaseen voi ripustaa omannäköisen koristeen tai vaikka heijastimen.

diy camo bag with studs

diy camo bag with studs