Most pairs of jeans give up in one place: the knees, the back-pocket corners, the crotch. The denim everywhere else is still heavy, tightly woven and soft from years of washing. Before you relegate them to the textile bank, cut them up and sew a tote bag. It is one of the friendliest first projects for a new sewist: the fabric is sturdy enough to forgive a wobbly seam, the shape is basically a rectangle, and the finished bag will carry far more than the thin cotton one you get free at the till.

You do not need a pattern. An afternoon, a basic machine and an old pair of jeans will get you a lined tote roughly 35cm wide and 38cm deep, with two denim handles long enough to sit on your shoulder.

What you will need

Gather everything before you cut, so you are not hunting for a needle halfway through a seam.

• One old pair of jeans. Rigid, non-stretch denim is easiest to control. If the label mentions elastane, the bag will still work, but it will be softer and slightly floppier, and the seams may pucker.
• Half a metre of cotton lining fabric — quilting cotton, poplin or an old cotton duvet cover all behave well.
• A denim or jeans needle for your machine, size 90/14 or 100/16.
• Strong polyester thread in a colour you like. Topstitching thread looks wonderful but is fiddly; ordinary thread is fine.
• Scissors or a rotary cutter and mat, pins or clips, a tape measure, tailor's chalk, and an iron.

A walking foot helps if you have one, because it feeds thick layers evenly. A thimble and a sturdy hand needle are worth having nearby for finishing.

Cutting the jeans into flat panels

Wash and dry the jeans first, even if they look clean. Denim can shrink, and you do not want your finished bag to do it for you.

1. Lay the jeans flat and cut both legs off straight across, about 5cm below the crotch. Keep the top section — it becomes a second, smaller project another day.
2. Take one leg and cut along the inside seam, from one end to the other, so the tube opens into a flat piece of fabric. Keep the outside seam intact; its double stitching looks deliberate on a finished bag.
3. Press the panel flat with a hot iron and a little steam.
4. Cut two rectangles, 38cm wide by 40cm tall. Line them up so the outside seam runs down one long edge of each panel — that seam will become a side of the bag.
5. From the leftovers, cut two handle strips, each 62cm long and 9cm wide.
6. From your lining fabric, cut two rectangles the same size as the denim ones.

If the jeans are worn thin in one area, avoid putting that patch where the base will be. The bottom takes the weight of everything you carry.

Sewing the bag body

Place the two denim panels right sides together and pin. Sew down both sides and across the bottom with a 1.5cm seam allowance, backstitching at the start and finish of each line of stitching. Leave the top edge open.

Now box the bottom corners, which gives the bag a flat base so it stands up when you set it down. With the bag still inside out, pinch each bottom corner so the side seam lies on top of the bottom seam, forming a triangle. Measure 5cm up from the point, draw a line across, and sew along it. Trim the excess fabric to 1cm. Repeat on the other corner.

Press the seams open as far as you can. Denim holds a crease well, and pressing now makes the next steps much neater.

Handles and lining

The handles

Fold each strip in half lengthways, right sides together, and sew along the long edge with a 1cm allowance. Turn the tube right side out — a safety pin pushed through one end and worked along does the job — then press it flat with the seam centred at the back. Topstitch close to both long edges.

Pin the handles to the right side of the bag's top edge, about 9cm in from each side seam. The raw ends should sit level with the top edge and the handles should not be twisted. Tack them in place, then sew a square with an X through it across each handle end for strength.

The lining

Sew the lining panels together the same way as the denim: sides and bottom, then box the corners. This time leave a 12cm gap in the middle of the bottom seam and do not sew over it. Press the seams open.

Turn the denim bag right side out and push it inside the lining, so the two are right sides together. Match the side seams and the handle positions, pin generously, and sew all the way around the top edge with a 1.5cm allowance. Then pull the whole bag through the gap in the lining bottom. Push the lining down inside the bag, press the top edge, and topstitch 1cm from the edge all the way around. Slip-stitch or machine the lining gap closed.

When the machine meets a thick seam

Jeans have cross seams — the kind where several layers of denim meet, often with a bulky felled seam. Your machine will complain, and forcing it will bend or break a needle.

• Use a longer stitch length, about 3 to 3.5mm, on denim.
• Slow right down and turn the handwheel by hand through the thickest part. Let the machine follow you, not the other way round.
• Trim or hammer bulky seam allowances flat. A few firm taps with a household hammer genuinely helps.
• If one spot refuses, sew up to it, stop with the needle down, lift the presser foot, and slip a folded scrap of fabric under the back of the foot to level it out.

Making it your own

The measurements adapt easily: widen the panels for a market bag, shorten them for a book tote, or add a patch pocket from the jeans' back pocket before you sew the body together. Use both handle strips on one side if you prefer short hand-carry loops.

Wash the finished bag only when it needs it, and turn it inside out first. Denim fades, which is part of the charm, but a cool wash and a line dry will keep the shape longer. Once you have made one, the second takes half the time — and those denim offcuts in the cupboard suddenly look like a set of bags waiting to happen.

Photo: Mizzu Cho / Pexels