Upcycled Design Lab Blog

October 18, 2015

Upcycled Mary Poppins Costume Part 2 - Skirt and Carpet Bag

Hello and welcome.

I have completed my Halloween costume for this weeks post. Do you dress up for Halloween? I am far too old for such silly frivolity but perhaps that is why I do it.

:-)

If you you missed last weeks post you can find the first part of the costume here.

The first project for this week was a simple refashion. I cut the skirt off this dress and sewed a casing in the waist and added a drawcord for the waist.

I had the shoes and gloves and of course the shirt and the hat from last weeks post but the costume didn't quite feel complete.

I would love to have found a black umbrella to go with the costume but I don't have one and since I am mid way thought the 31 Days of Living Well Spending Zero Challenge I can't go out and buy one. So the next best thing was to make a carpet bag. Fortunately I had the perfect fabric already on hand.

Sorry I didn't do a very good job of taking photo's along the way but here are a few of the steps. I started with two rectangle pieces that measure 30 wide x 25 tall. I left a 7 inch slit at the top edges and sewed around the rest of the bag.

To make the bottom I stitched across the bottom corners 4 inches from the bottom seam on both sides to make the bottom of the bag 8 inches wide.

To make the sides of the bag I stitched a small tuck seam from the bottom of the bag at the 4 inches to the top of the bag at 6 inches. This makes the bag a little smaller at the top.

I cut and sewed some straps from the same fabric.

I didn't have anything sturdy enough to make the top of the bag so I used duct tape and some long wooden balloon sticks to make the rods for the top of the bag.

Sorry this picture is upside down. But the rods fit from side to side about 4 inches down and the fabric folds over the rods. Mark the fold on the outside of the bag.