TRAID Rucksack inspiration - reusing old fabric for new things

I have a lot of projects in my sketchbook and there's no set way of tackling what I want to make first. More often than not, my selection process revolves around what I need, and right now that's a bag. I'm fed up of buying bags from the shops and having them break within a couple of months (maybe this says more about me than the bag!), so I've made a bag from an old vintage dress I've had for ages. This is also inspired by TRAID, who have recently posted about reusing denim to make rucksacks. You can read the post here: http://www.traid.org.uk/transforming-denim/ 

Here's the dress on my dressmaker's dummy: (Gotta love the smudgy pic! Forgot to wipe the lens. I am such a novice)

You can see how massive it is, which is great as there was more fabric to play with! It's made out of a

thick heavyweight cotton which is perfect for this project, as a rucksack needs to be made of a more stronger, durable material.

I deconstructed the dress by cutting at the waist seam, and then the side seams of the skirt. I then ironed the separate panels of the skirt, placed the pattern pieces on accordingly, cut them out, and sewed them up! I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the instructions were to follow.

I used an old shirtdress made of a black and white apple print cotton to line it. I did the same as above - cutting the side seams of the skirt and pinning the pattern pieces to be cut.

    And here's the finished product!

I didn't just recycle the fabric - even the metal d-rings are from an old bag...

Here's an awkwardly blurry pic of the inside. The top corners are fastened with Velcro, but I'm not sure I like how pointy it makes it look. I might draft a drawstring closure for the next one I make to give a more rounded appearance.

...and the metal snap closure below is also from an old bag. A 100% recycled bag!

I'm pretty happy with this little delight and have plans to make another in faux suede with a pom-pom trim so watch this space!