Quilted Vest to Autumnal Tote

Time to Complete: 15 mins
Sewing Machine Required? Yes
Difficulty: Easy

I'm a sucker for the ugly ducklings of the thrift shop. It's not their fault they exist, and they deserve a second chance at life. When something is so ugly it just SHOULD NOT BE, I have only one choice: turn it into something completely new.

Here we have one such specimen.

Actually, I kind of liked the quilted cornucopia and the weird clashing stripes on the other side, just not as a vest. So I lay the whole thing flat on the floor and made two big chops.

A vest no more!

I put the centre piece away for a future project (I'm thinking an autumn hot pad for my kitchen), and flipped the left side piece over the right so they were front sides together.

Like so...

Then it was a simple matter of stitching across the top narrow band, and around the thicker part (shown on the right in the picture). I trimmed off the excess and turned it back inside-right. When finished, voila!

Dare I say...totes fabulous?

This quilted wonder makes a much less offensive bag than it did vest. I'm looking forward to getting into the fall season!