Upcycling: turtle toiletry or first-aid bags made from denim clothes

Today’s blog post is about upcycling old denim clothes – trousers, jeans, jackets or shirts – into toiletry bags. Denim fabric is ideal for this type of bags since it is sturdy and so can hold also pointed tools like brushes, scissors, pincers or the like, without being damaged. And, of course, it is quite good-looking! 🙂 These bags are also ideal for storing medical supplies and first-aid kits.

The body of the bags consist of reclaimed denim fabric from old clothes whose fabric is still in good condition. Their zippers are also reclaimed from other clothes. For a more interesting design, we chose zippers in a contrasting, but matching colour. The bags are fully lined with a cotton lining in a contrasting or similar colour as the external body of the bag, which was also reclaimed from old shirts or other clothes. Optionally, the lining can be made with several small pockets to hold small items.

The heads of the turtles are stuffed with fabric rests from the same material as the turtle was made of (those denim scraps which could not be used for other upcycling projects like the seams from the denim clothes or fabric scraps that were too tiny to make something else from them). So these bags are truly completely ‘zero-waste’ items, plus the identical filling means that they can be washed without the risk of them becoming dyed by other fabric scraps in the process.

These bags are intended for all turtle-lovers, adults as well as kids of all ages. 😀