Messenger Bag Refashion Tutorial

Random ugly trade-show items are rampant in our home. We have several bags at the moment that are proudly declaring various company names. We use them for library books or other needs. I decided this orange one (below) needed a makeover! I’m really excited about the result. You might recognize the makeover fabric from these bags.

Do you have an ugly bag you’d like to refashion? Oh, good.
This is easy. First, I dismantled the bag. I used my seam ripper to take off the flap and then took off the binding. (Save the binding. We’ll use it for reassembly.)
I used two scraps of fabric and some fusible interfacing. The binding and velcro piece I harvested from the original bag.

1. Use the flap as a pattern to trace around both the exterior and lining fabric. I interfaced the exterior fabric only.
2. Before applying the binding, machine baste the exterior and back pieces together.
3. Sew the binding bck around the fabric piece. I didn’t pin. It worked out for me this time, but you might want to pin depending on the type of fabric you’re using. I’ve had some binding disasters when I don’t pin.
4. Fold the flap down. Now fold it over again to hide the raw edge. Stitch it to the original bag. (Try and do it the same way the original flap was attached.)
5. Re-attach the velcro piece. I used a zig-zag stitch set to the widest setting but the shortest setting, so there wasn’t a lot of space between the zig zags. I went back and forth a few times to cover all the bare space. Not sure if that’s the best way, but it worked for me this time.

I love this bag! And the project went very fast (less than one nap time!) and was completely free.