Turning an Old Skirt Into a Reversible Bag - April Stash Bust Continues

My sister Jene' had a birthday eleven days ago, and finally this weekend I got to making her gift.  I know what you're thinking.  Better late then never though, right?  And don't worry, I don't think she reads the blog, so our secret is still safe.

Before starting Jene's project, I first had to come up with an idea.  And can I just stop here for a moment and say that I'm really enjoying the "April Stash Bust" this month.  Every time I go through my drawers of fabric and supplies, to coordinate a project, stories flood out of those drawers and overwhelm me with wonderful memories.  It seems each piece of fabric has a story behind it.  What a beautiful thing.  Unexpectedly, this has been my favorite part of the "bust" so far.

While collecting supplies for Jene's gift, I opened one of my drawers where I keep old clothes that I hope to repurpose one day.  Old sweaters, dresses, skirts, shirts of Josh's, etc.  And out of that drawer jumped a small, black, velvet miniskirt with tassels.  I picked this hot little number up at a clothing-swap a few months back.  A good friend of mine has these clothing swaps tri-annurally where she invites a bunch of great woman that she knows from all areas of her life.  We all gather at her house and dump out our unwanted clothes in multiple rooms.  From there we basically drink wine, eat good food, and go treasure hunting among all the unwanted items.  And at the end of the night, we bag up all the leftovers and bring them to a Goodwill.  During this stage, I usually salvage once more through the items to see if any might inspire a future sewing project.  Can you believe no one wanted this skirt?

Here's the miniskirt I was hoping to repurpose for Jene's gift.  

(Note:  I apologize for the poor quality of this picture.  My husband took it and when I asked him to make sure the picture was good and focused, well, he must of been watching basketball or something.)

Along with this miniskirt, I used some...

fancy pink and black fabric I had planned to use to make a diaper bag last year, but never did,

a vintage button,

and other bag making supplies I had hiding in my stash (ribbon, felt interfacing, handle clips, etc.)

And while I sipped my wine, sewed, and though about all the lovely woman who attended the last clothing-swap, soon this useless skirt, one again, had a beautiful purpose.

Note:  This bag is reversible.  Above you see the one side, and below the other.

I wanted to use the tassels for something else, other than tassels, for reasons I don't think I necessarily need to explain.  I created this flower out of them and...

... the loops for the handle.

And so the skirt lives on, still a hot little number!