Pillow Sham Messenger Bag

One of my biggest passions is repurposing items.  You might remember my Placemat Clutch,  Sheets to Curtains,  Man's Shirt to Flirty Skirt or Tea Towel Curtains.  It gives me such a thrill to turn one item into something completely different.

I was shopping at Marshall's last week with Hubs when he got a call from an old friend.  I used this slight distraction to pop into the home section and rummage through the clearance aisle.  Sitting there, just waiting to come home with me, was a king-sized, quilted pillow sham in a gorgeous paisley and leaf print for just $3! I didn't think twice and tossed it into our cart.

King-sized pillow sham.

My mom had been asking me to make her a new purse, something with a long strap that wouldn't fall off of her shoulder.  I have to admit, making hand bags isn't, well, my bag (wah, wah).  I have a couple of friends who make phenomenal handbags, and I tend to lean more toward accessories and clutches...

Anyhoo, I got a spark of inspiration and decided to give it a shot using the fabric from the new pillow sham.

This isn't going to be a tutorial, exactly, since I don't have step by step pictures or measurements, but maybe it will inspire you to make your own!

The first thing I did was remove all of the stitching.  This left me with one large quilted piece (beige), and two smaller pieces of a thin cotton (pink).  I then cut the quilted piece in half (through the short side) and used that for the exterior and one of the small pink pieces as the lining.  The other piece of pink fabric I cut into strips and sewed together to make the strap.

I didn't use a pattern or any specific measurements.  I just played it by ear and hoped for the best.  Here is how it turned out:

VOILA!

I mitered the corners, and added a fabric flower with some left over lining fabric.

I added two interior pockets for Mom's cell phone and keys.

 

Roomy and comfy, and all for $3!

Click here to see where this and my other posts are linked!