Singlet / Tank top tote bag

I finally finished my 'upcycled' tote bag. It has been in my craft room for some time and my daughter has needed a bag for her dancing things for some time - but now all finished!

I started with an old singlet or tank top and some matching ribbon. The stripe pattern proved to be quite handy when sewing and cutting this bag!

Cut the top arm holes and neck away from the body.

Pinned the ribbon (both sides) to make the handles, being careful to match the placement of the ribbon on both sides.

As you can see I cheated quite a bit - the thin stripe on the ribbon provides the perfect stitching guide! After sewing on the ribbon handles I decided that the bag had too much of a 'waist' in it - so I re-stitched the sides and made the bag a bit narrower and straighter than the original tank top. Then stitched the bottom closed being careful to match up the ribbons at the bottom.

Using the left over material from around the sleeve and neck holes - I cut some strips of fabric. Then I gathered the strips of fabric and some left over ribbon to make three rosettes.

I hand stitched the gathered strips in a circular fashion to make the rosettes and sewed to the bag with a red button.

My daughter is very happy with her 'upcycled' bag for tap dancing! She even recognised it as my old top.