I had this pretty horrible denim romper in my stash.

I needed a medium sized bag to use as a ‘poolside tote’ for my upcoming vacation.

So I sketched a basic boat shape on brown paper and cut it down the center. Each leg gave me two pieces.

I cut a 4 inch wide strip just above the waist to use for the gusset.

I cut around the two pockets and sewed then together. I added a strip of velcro to keep my wallet’s center pocket closed and denim cord to attach the wallet to the bag(I’m dorky that way).

I used another pair of cotton twill shorts(lightweight) for the lining.

At this point I was out of denim and needed a strap so I cut up a denim skirt.

The two rings in the strap were also salvaged from yard sale shorts.

The bag closes with a magnetic snap.

I had to replace a sewing needle during this project so that, the cost of velcro, cost of the clearanced magnetic snap and yard sale clothes made this bag cost $.78 .

Good deal. What do you think?

Before I start the tutorial I just wanna do a quick list of the other sewing projects I’ve been working on this month. They’re too boring for pictures but I’m recycling lots of stuff from my stash.

I made 18 double layer flannel cleaning cloths that fit on a Swiffer or can be used as is for dustrags. The flannel came from the top portions of adult pj pants that I’d cut down for my son and from a body billow sized pillowcase.

I shortened several pairs of my son’s cargo pants into shorts for the summer since his waist size is unchanged.

And I recovered my 11 year old compact ironing board using an old pillowcase and some leftover cotton quilt batting.

Ok, on to the tutorial. It took me just 4 minutes to make each of these so it’s a really easy project!

First select a fleece top that you wish to recycle and prep it by cutting it up into pieces at the seams. I used a nubbly textured pullover style, men’s large. Cut ‘fabric’ into 10X10.5 inch squares. DO NOT cut on the bias.

Serge the 10 inch side edges. It’s ok to ’shave’ the edge by 1/8 inch while serging.

Now fold the serged edges in to the center overlapping seams, wrong side out. Pin along center.

My photo editor isn’t working right now so imagine these two images rotated, ok?

Now serge along the open ends(the folded 10.5 inch sides). You can shave 1/8-1/4 of an inch off while you serge since you need to be certain that the back and front flaps are completely joined. I didn’t bother adjusting my differential feed so my seams curved a little. I was in a hurry and these covers are just for cleaning after all.

Remove pins, turn inside out and adorn your swiffer!

I got 10 covers from one top. I’ve tested them out and they work great for getting up all those dust bunnies and they clean well in a delicates bag in the washer. I air dried them so I can’t comment on holding up in the dryer. Enjoy!

Now that we have hardwood flooring instead of carpet in the living room, doing any floor exercise, including Yoga on the Wii Fit is pretty painful. I put a yoga mat on my b-day wish list and specified that it be in gray, white, cream or brown as to blend in with our new living room color scheme.

Dh bought me a bright pink one. At least it was a Black Friday special lol! I refuse to put anything in there that doesn’t match my color scheme. I’ve always, ALWAYS had mismatched piece-y rooms and I can’t stand it anymore!

My solution was to make a bag that matched the room so I can store the mat where I use it. I had a gray pant leg in my clothes to reconstruct bin. Trimmed it into a straight rectangle, added stability straps and carrying handle, sewed it into a tube, added a circular bottom and made a drawstring top.

Let me know what you think.