Sometimes when I shop at Goodwill, although it’s very rare, I DON’T have an idea of what I’m looking for. But those are days when I’m looking to be inspired by color, texture or pattern for a recycling project. This week I decided to use my $5 Club Goodwill reward to shop. I thought it would be a challenge to spend ONLY the $5. While I was looking through the craft section I noted that there were plastic handles for tote bags for $1.99, and that got me thinking that I could make a tote out from the fabric of a garment, to utilize them. 

I found a brightly colored woven scarf in pink and blue that just seemed like summer to me for $2.99, so there went my $5 budget. I thought I could simply pull the scarf through the handles and hand sew it into a fabric bag, but I soon realized a heavier fabric would work better, but I wasn’t giving up yet! Putting the plastic handles aside, I focused on the scarf instead.

I folded it in half, then I stitched along the sides up until the color changed at each end. I turned it right side out and folded the blue fringed part down as decoration. Next, I stitched a velvet ribbon onto each side using a sewing machine. The ribbon was a left over from another project. Lastly, for decoration I used fabric/craft glue to adhere some black-beaded medallions to cover the stitching on the outside of the bag.

Doesn’t it look cool? It is big enough to hold beach essentials, or other items when shopping. An easy and breezy DIY for YOU to try for yourself!