Upcycled Diaper Bag or Purse {Project #3}

As I wait (impatiently) for our baby girl to arrive, I've been itching to do some projects I've had on my "to create" list for a while. We've been so blessed in recent months with lots of hand-me-downs for our older daughter and one item which came to us was this cute little reversible Gymboree skort. It was not quite long enough for her, but I loved the design so I kept it rather than passing it on. Motivation to make something out of it struck this week and in one hour it went from this... to this!
This is not a tutorial, but the basic process follows.
- With the skort fully open, I stitched the backside of the bag with our baby girl's initial with a decorative star stitch which mimics the little flowers on the front. (not shown)
- Next, I sewed some vertical seams on the overlapping part of the skort which makes a front pocket which is the perfect size for a travel wipes container or a sippy cup.
- Thirdly, with right sides together I sewed the bottom seam, then laid the bottom seam open to square off the corners to give the bag shape and give it a chance of standing up on its own rather than falling over when set down.
- To finish the bag, I sewed on a handle made of midweight white cotton canvas sewn into a tube (4 layers thick), topstitched the gingham ribbon onto the handle, attached the handle to the bag, sewed a loop of gingham ribbon onto the bag and attached a button to the front to create a simple closure.

I love the cheery, vivid green, the gingham, the flower motif, and the cute no-work lining that it has. And I love that it was free because the skort was free to us and the the other bits and pieces came from my creative stash.

Now I can't wait to use it for our little girl! And if I didn't have a need for a diaper bag right now, I would totally use this as a springtime purse.