Repurposing Noah's Ark and a Sewing Tip

I purchased a like new denim Noah's Ark ladies jumper from a thrift store a few years ago. My sole purpose in purchasing it was for the wonderful soft denim fabric.

The top portion of the jumper had this wonderful Noah's Ark design appliqued on it and I had been saving it for some future project. I decided to make my grandson a small tote bag. Here's the front:



The jumper already was lined so I just used the overcasting stitch on my machine to sew the seams. This closed up the seam so it would be finished nicely on the inside.

I lost some of the animals' body parts when cutting out the bag because the arm holes of the jumper were round, but my tote bag needed to be rectangular.:o)

The back:



A trip to the dollar store for various "creatures" and a Noah's Ark book with CD, completed this project and gift for my grandson.



A great sewing tip is that if you need nice denim fabric at a good price you can find lots of denim skirts and jumpers at yard sales and/or thrift stores. Many of the now out of style denim garments have full skirts that contain yards of denim fabric.

The jumper I used in this project looked as if it had never been worn and the denim was very dark. I washed the bag after making it to get rid of any excess dye and to make it soft. After washing it I hung it on a hanger to dry and then pressed it.