Yard Sale $$ Belt

I was not expecting this post but since this is something I made on-the-fly, I figured I would share.  My community had a yard sale this Saturday.  We have had two since we moved in, but I was not prepared for them so I did not participate.  This time around was different; I was going to make some cash!!

I had my stuff, Vince's stuff, his daughter's stuff, his mom brought over a few items and a woman from work's stuff.  We had a lot of stuff!!

Last time I had a yard sale, I was fumbling with the money and going to my main money pouch and making change and I felt like I could turn my back and someone could just swipe my money pouch.  So this time I wanted the change on my person so I do not have to reveal where I was hiding the bulk cash to the customers.

I decided I needed a money belt, kind of like the hardware belts handy people use to carry pencils and measuring tapes.  Like I've said before, I am cheap and did not want to buy a "real" one from Lowe's or anywhere.  You know me: I'm making my own!!

My money belt was fashioned from an old hand towel.  I have a set of terry hand towels that are really thin and are one step away from being a dust rag or car wash towel.  I brought new life to one of them.

Old Hand Towel from the 90's

I took the towel and folded down one edge of the length of the towel about 1.5".  I grabbed a canvas belt and made sure that it was a little wider than that.  I sewed down the fold and this will serve as my canvas belt channel and the top.

Belt Channel in the Making

Next, I flipped it over and folded the towel again from the bottom up and had the bottom edge of the towel just under the seam where I just sewed.

This is Sew Easy!

I sewed up each side and one seam up the middle bisecting this large "pocket."  Now I have a divided pocket for my money.

I Said it was Easy!

I then threaded the canvas belt through and Viola!  Fini!

I had ones and quarters on one side and larger bills on the other.  When I would get a few $20 then I would transfer that to my bulk money pouch.  I was handling the money from everyone's stuff and jotting down when someone else made the sale so it was easy to just add up everyone's total at the end and then do one payout.

Rocking the $$ Belt at the Yard Sale

It was a long day, but we sold a bunch of our stuff (even though it seemed like we packed up just as much as we put out).  Ok, I just have to ask, "Who goes to yard sales with $50 bills?"  We had two people pay us for less than $10 items with a $50.  Unreal!  I almost refused the sale on principal. I would've if I did not already have $20's in my stash.  So, if you are those people: STOP!  It just takes all of the sellers change (this ain't the bank, you know?).  Go to the grocery store or gas station and get smaller bills.  Alright, I'll get off my soapbox now. :-)

All in all, it was a good day.  Everyone made a good chunk of change to line their pockets with.  Vince went "shopping" as the ladies were working the yard sale and bought a ping-pong table.  He says it was a good deal, hey, whatever floats your boat.  We had cleaned out the garage for the yard sale, there just happened to be all this extra room for it.  Hmmm, makes me think it was all planned somehow.

In a few weeks, my friend is having a yard sale in her community.  I will bring over what did not sell and what will fit in my car and see if I can get some more cash.  Otherwise, I'll donate the rest to Goodwill.  I definitely do not want to bring it back home.  I like having a clean and neat garage!

I'll make her a money belt too.  We'll be the money belt sistas!

Laptop Bag

This project had been on my mind for awhile; for I had this pair of jeans that I loved, but sadly, a hole had worn itself on the inner thigh.  I had worn them, even with the hole there, but I knelt down the other day and I heard the "rrrrrip" of the threadbare fabric; I knew their time had come.  But I had these jeans since forever and wanted to repurpose them somehow.

I've been to craft shows where little girl's pants are transformed into cute purses and seen denim purses selling in stores.  I went online to take a closer peek at these said items and came across a video on YouTube on making a laptop case out of a pair of old jeans.  The unknown chic who made this sped up the video so it was only about a two minute tutorial on how this is done, but it is really all you need.

But, you know me, I'll drag it on a bit longer than two minutes.

My poor favorite jeans!

First I took my jeans (see the worn spot), and cut the legs off just below the crotch.  This depth was adjusted later, but I did not want to cut it too short to begin with. 

Then, with the seam ripper, I opened up the front to the bottom of the zipper flap.  If anyone says that Gap jean are crap, then try taking the seams out and get back to me.  The inner seam had three layers of stitching.  Three layers!  It took longer than I though because this was baffling to me.  After I unstitched the plethera of stitches, I had all these little thread bits every where I cut the stitches (on both sides of the jean fabric and on the table).  There is this little trick I learned in a quilting class to get those little bits out of there in a jiffy.  So, I took a lint roller and slowly rolled it over where I cut the seam stitches.  Each one of the bits stuck to the lint roller in a crazy straight line.  Amazing!  Alternately, I ran out of lint roller tape and had to use packing tape.  That worked well too, you use it like you are waxing (put on, press where the threads are and rip)!

Flap over and stitch

Once, I had all of the threads out, I arranged the front so that one side flapped over the other (like in above pic) and sewed to the end.  Coats and Clark makes a denim thread that is orange and is a bit thicker than your average thread.  I used this to sew the flap down.  I only did one pass with the sewing machine, but a second, double row would have matched the way the rest of the stitching was done. 

Next, I then figured out how deep I needed the "bag" to be.  Then turned it inside-out and drew a line across the bottom so to make it straight, then I cut along the line and sewed it shut.

Measure from the waist to determine your line

The below pic shows that I also sewed and trimmed the corners off, but this is not necessary. 

You know, what this could be...

I turned the bag right side-out and ironed it.  The waist was crinkled from the store during the stonewashing, so they were always crinkled.  I ironed the heck out of it with a touch of starch so it would stay uncrinkled.  A little starch goes a long way.

Almost there!

If you watched the video link, you will see that the chic made holes in the waist and cut the side seams off of the legs.  She used the side seams as the handles to the bag.  In my opinion, this will not do for me.  I did cut them out, but I did not like the way it was going to look.  I imagine that you could tie them to the belt loops or thread them through the belt loops as you would a belt, but my legs are short and I would have to sew them end to end to make something long enough to do these ideas.  I was not in the mood for that.

Instead, I chose to insert rivets or grommets in the wasit area.  Just poking a hole was not enough of a finish for me.  I marked where I was going to place the grommets with some screwdriver thing with a point on it and tapped on it with a hammer.  (Vince said it was a size 1 Philips scewdriver, if that means anything to anyone).  This gave me a guide to make my snips into the denim to insert the grommet.

Two-piece grommet with anvil

I just followed the directions on how to install the grommets.  This type uses an anvil with that cylinder you see in the above pic.  I inserted the cylinder into the hole and tapped it with a hammer until it was flat.  I did one and then Vince did the rest.  My taps on the hammer were lighter than his.  He only needed two or three taps while it was me tapping several times.

Tap on a hard surface, like concrete

Once they were all in, it pretty much was done.  I just had to figure out what to use as handles.  I looked through my craft closet and then my belts and found a yarn belt that I made with an i-cord maker.  It used novelty yarn and a string of sequins.  I used it as a dressy belt tons of times, but the sequins-on-a-string got caught on themselves one time and I almost could not untie it to use the bathroom.  Yeah, so I had rarely used it since then.

My personal touch!

At first I thought this bag was a bit juvenile, but once I put my i-cord belt on it,  I was loving it!  It is large enough to fit my laptop and it's battery power cord with plenty of room to spare.  The front and back pockets are still functional and can hold your cell phone and/or mp3 player.

Very Chic!



As I was doing this project, I had a thought of another idea.  Take the same jeans and cut the leg a lot lower and make a skirt.  You have to do it slightly different, but it is the same concept.  I have another pair of jeans that just ripped, maybe I will have to give it another life as a skirt. 

Stayed tuned.