How to Make a Messenger Bag Out of Vintage Ties

Messenger bags are useful and stylish, but they can often be very pricey. Instead of spending a fortune on a messenger bag, you can custom-design a bag in the size and color you want, using some of your favorite vintage neckties. Vintage ties come in all kinds of zany textures and patterns. Once you learn how to make a messenger bag, you'll want one in every color.

Things You'll Need

• 40 vintage ties
• Large sheet of paper
• Scissors
• Marking pen
• Sewing machine or thread and needle
• Lining material
• Sewing machine
• Pins
• Magnet or snap

Instructions

Assemble the Materials and Cut the Pattern

1. Select the vintage ties you plan to use for your messenger bag. You may not use all forty ties, but it's good to have a few extras on hand in the event of cutting mistakes or changes in your design plan.

2. Determine the size you will want the messenger bag to be. The size of your messenger bag will determine the size of the paper pattern you will make.

3. Draw on a large sheet of paper each of the bag's component parts--its flap, one piece that represents both the front and back pieces (which are the same size), two side pieces of the same size, its bottom piece and its strap.

4. Cut out and label each of pattern pieces so you know which is which. You should have five pieces of paper, because you will use the same piece of paper for the front and back, and you will use the same piece of paper for the sides.

Prepare the Fabric

1. Line up the vintage ties in the order and design that you want them to be on the bag. You're trying to make one solid piece of "fabric" out of the ties, so make sure all of the edges meet. You don't want any space showing between the ties.

2. Stitch the neckties together in the pattern you laid out in Section 2, Step 1. Be sure to sew the back side of the fabric, so that your stitches don't show. You should end up with a piece of stitched-together tie "fabric" large enough to accommodate the paper patterns you made in Section 1, Step 4.

3. Place the lining material on top of the new tie "fabric," and cut out the pieces of the messenger bag using the paper patterns. Because you're cutting both the vintage ties and the lining material in this step, you will have two pieces of material for each component part of the bag. Remember to cut two pieces for the front and back of the bag and two pieces for the sides.

4. Make sure you have 14 pieces of fabric (vintage tie and lining material) for the messenger bag's seven component parts when you finish cutting.

Make the Messenger Bag

1. Sew the short ends of the bottom piece of the bag to the short ends of the side pieces. You will now have a long strip of fabric.

2. Pin the front and back pieces to the side pieces. You need to think three-dimensionally at this point, because you will need to sew the seams on what will become the inside of the bag. The "wrong" side of the material should be facing out as you sew.

3. Examine the pieces of fabric you will use for the bag's flap and determine which part of the flap will be attached to the bag.

4. Sew a hem around the part of the flap that will not be attached to the bag. This will keep your lining material and vintage tie material attached to one another. You can turn the pieces of material inside out and sew them this way for a neater finished bag.

5. Attach the magnet or snap to the bag's flap. Determine where this magnet or snap will meet its mate on your messenger bag, and attach that mate to the messenger bag.

6. Sew the flap to the messenger bag. Be sure that this seam is on the inside of the bag, so that it doesn't show when the bag is finished.

7. Attach the strap to the messenger bag. Sew each end of the strap to the bag's side panels. Be sure to stitch from the inside, so that your seams are not visible on the finished bag.