Saturday, 16 April 2016

Easy to make handy little bag

Hello on this sunny Saturday morning in North Lincolnshire. Boy did it rain during the night, all my water buckets and bowls are full and overflowing, and the ground is very soggy. I will wait until things dry out before I attempt any garden tidying today. 
Yesterday I did some tidying in the crafty stock room, and came across the remains of a pair of thick black tights with one leg missing, previously removed for an experiment. A pair of one legged tights is not much use, unless you have a second pair which you can wear together. I remember doing this years ago, when I had a ladder I saved the tights until I had another similar pair. Cut off the laddered legs, and bingo, a new pair of tights. I haven't worn tights for years, gone right off them. I prefer leggins under jog bottoms in the winter, and light cotton trousers in the summer, or bare legs with either shorts or a long skirt if it is really hot. 
After cutting off the second leg, I ended up with a pair of pants. Hmmm, what to do with it now? I know, I have an idea. Turn it inside out with the back and front seams now on the sides. Run the sewing machine across the bottom a couple of times, I did zigzag stitch. Turn it the right way, you now have a bag that will scrunch up quite small to put in a handbag or pocket. 
I did a test, curious to see how much shopping it would hold. The gusset is now the handle.

I loaded it up with some weighty stuff. Packed neatly it will hold quite a lot.

Yep, I could certainly carry this from the shop to my car. 
Right, an easy project for you to tackle. Go and look in your drawers for some thick tights that you no longer wear. Even better would be some colourful or patterned ones. For a slightly thicker bag you could use leggins of any size. Cut the legs off straight across from about two inches below the gusset. The top of the tights is now the bottom of the bag, sew across with a machine or it can be done by hand.

If you carry a small bag around with you like this one, you will never be caught out if you suddenly remember you have to pick up a few items from the supermarket on the way home. If you are walking, put one in your rucksack. Could be used for carrying books to and from the library. Good eh!

I'm going to get my walk done early today, in case it rains later, so I'll sign off and leave you too it. Have a nice weekend whatever you are doing. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, awesome idea! I always try to bring a bag, you never know when a good deal appears, hehe.

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  2. Cool!!!! I saw a while back that you could make t-shirts into bags too. xx

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  3. your inventiveness never fails to amaze me Ilona. what a brilliant idea. Back from getting a good soaking in rain and sleet but managed a 20 miles ride. It was sunny when we set out so we curtailed the ride.

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  4. I've got a bag of tights that I need to do something with. Thanks for "rainbow explanation". Loved the artwork too. Natalie

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  5. Brilliant idea. I wear tights a lot so will use this one and also the idea of making new tights out of two laddered pairs. There are plenty of other uses for laddered tights, scrunched up they make fantastic cloths for cleaning sinks etc as they are very slightly abrasive and then they dry out quickly. You can cut them up into thin strips to make excellent plant ties and you can also use them as holders for little slivers of soap, just put a load of soap pieces into a section of tights, tie each end, it holds the soap together and also the tights material helps the soap lather up and it lasts for ages.

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  6. Neat idea but I don't wear tights very often either.
    xx

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  7. Fantastic idea! I would never have thought of that. On a slight side note for anyone with long hair, worn or laddered tights can be cut into strips to make hair ties. Very gentle on the hair. The top band of a pair of tights can be cut to make a hair band for keeping hair out of your face when cleansing etc. Old tights also make great 'ties' for tidying things around the house and garden.

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  8. I do wear tights for work and tend to wash and save them to stuff cushions and soft toys etc. What a great idea!

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