Midnight Blues Backpack Upcycled from Old Jeans

Midnight Blue Backpack (with a little starlight bling)

 

Starlight Bling 

 

Back View showing Straps 

 

Diamond Quilting on the back

 

Side view, showing the zipper and more quilting. 

 

Bottom -- also quilted.

Ok-- I saw the 17-minute video from Ezi2Make and was determined to try this out.   Just because.  It is a very well-done DIY video, without words.  Very clear and easy to DIY.    Even the zippers seemed easy and straight forward.  The pattern pieces fit together well, using the given measurements.

A few modifications:

• I quilted most of the denim with a batting (recycled / repurposed mattress pad) and lining.  What can I say?  I'm currently under the influence of Vera Bradley!  It gives it a little more body and stability--It can actually stand up on its own. And I love the quilted look.  Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  
• This also means that the lining was quilted with the exterior fabrics.  So I had to take the extra step of covering the the seams with binding. Not a big deal for a quilter. ;-)  This binding style helped to lay the seams flat, rather than having them stick out into the back pack inside.  For the double-fold binding, I started with 3-inch strips of the lining fabric.  It needed to be a littlr bit wider than you'd use for a regular quilt binding because the seams are 3/8-inch vs the standard 1/4 inch in quilting.
  
• I made some padded straps, rather than the flat leather strips used in the video.  Although-- I could have used that pleather from the first Sling bag I made a few weeks ago.  I have a lot of that left!  I made straps very similar to that Sling bag -- although it could have used another layer of batting.  One layer of the mattress pad in this context seems too flat.  I think I might have used wool batting on the Sling bag-- but the pleather was also "cushy."
  
• I added zipper pulls at the ends of the zipper tracks.  This helped to keep them contained after I trimmed them down to size. 

 

Inside pocket

• I added an inside pocket, recycling one of the back pockets from the jeans. Its actually 2 pockets in one.  

How did it all begin?  Step 1: I watched the 17-minute video above, took copious notes.

Step 2: Draft the pattern.  I used the measurements given in the video.  It's a good sized backpack!   I used a brown paper shopping bag to map out my pattern pieces, staying in the mode of recycling.  It's good sturdy paper that can be used multiple times vs delicate tissue paper.

Step 3: Find some suitable jeans.  Most of mine fit at the moment.  So I trekked off to St Vinny's to see what I could find ...   Jackpot!  Jeans on sale for $3.  I was looking for a dark blue (indigo) with faint darker lines in it, and I found it!  and a second pair that was a lighter blue, which added some nice contrast to the final backpack.

The fabric section at STV didn't have much on offer that day, so I ventured over to the men's shirts, and found 3 that would do nicely for the bags I have on deck.  Who-hooh!  $3 each-- That's way cheaper than the fabric store!  [It turns out the shirt was a little too flimsy in contrast to the heavier denim to serve as the lining for this backpack, so I did not wind up using it in the end.  I could have added a stabilizer, but didn't think it would wear as well as the tougher denim.  Maybe for another project down the road?]

The light blue calico curtains that became the lining of the backpack.

I also found a set of curtains -- 4 panels (homemade from a blue calico cotton fabric) for $6.  Score! Even with a half-price coupon, you'd never get that much fabric so cheap!  This is what I wound up using -- remember I like to have light fabrics for the inside of a bag, since it helps to see into your bag, and not lose things.    Go home and wash all the thrift shop fabric.

PHOTO

Step 4: Next is to see how the pattern pieces will fit on the particular jeans I purchased.  I'd come across some interesting placements that took advantage of pockets.  I didn't go too crazy with that, but I did add an inside pocket

It was very satisfying to cut into the jeans, cutting up the seams to make wider expanses of the fabric to cut my backpack pattern pieces.

There were still a few pieces that I had to piece together to make it long enough -- though if I had planned better, I might have been able to make it fit down a pant leg.

 

Step 5: By then I'd decided to quilt the pieces, so I chalked a line at a 45 degree angle to the edges, stitched along that line, and then used the walking foot and the bar to continue stitching lines in a 1-inch grid.  I used a lighter blue thread that coordinates nicely with the denim. The thread has a slight shine to it, meant for embroidery, but strong!

 

  I had to cut larger pieces to quilt first and then cut out the pieces for the backpack.   I don't regret that.  Just making a statement about the economy of using jeans vs. yardage.  Only the outside pocket is not quilted, though I did use stabilizer /interfacing on the lining for the outer pocket.

You can see the recycled mattress pad that I used for the batting.

 

Then it was just a matter of working through all the remaining steps to piece it together.  Taking time with each step to understand how it was coming together ...  and it did!   Very satisfying to see it done.  Makes me wish I had somewhere to go with it!

 Outside pocket, zippered and boxed. Topstitched onto the front of backpack.

What would I do different next time?

• The outside pocket was the trickiest part of this project.  I sewed it down once, but it was flat, even though I'd boxed the corners.  I ripped it off and re-did it.  It's better now, but still flat at the top.   So I might find a better way to add that pocket with a sewing ridge or maybe chalking the outline to follow for sewing the top stitching, because I seemed to loose the trail when doing it freehand. 
  
• The quilting made sewing the zipper down too bulky, so I think next time, I would stitch a facing onto fabric pieces before attaching the zipper, so that it minimized the quilting layers under the zipper.
• I would try harder to locate a zipper with 2 zipper heads.  This one only has 1.  The two-headed kind seem a little harder to come by.
• Next time, I think I would just use yardage -- esp. if I were going to quilt it again.  It would be easier to quilt  larger square or rectangular quilt sandwich, rather than the disparate pieces that fit onto the pieces of jeans.

 

I am so pleased with it--a good size and a decent pattern for a DIY video from You Tube.  Thank you Ezi2Make!   I love the diamond quilting, and the indigo denim blues.   It needed a final touch--a little bit of bling and sparkle, so a diamond zipper pull.

I also put the Le Bouton sparkly flower button in the front -- because that needed a little sparkle too.