musette

While watching this year's Tour de France my husband mentioned he’d like to have a musette bag. That thought stuck with me for weeks so I decided to make him one for his birthday.

A musette bag holds food and drinks and gets handed to the Tour riders in the feed zone. These fellows are pedaling on the road for hours at a time and they definitely need to eat to keep up their cycling performance. My husband plans to use his to bring his lunch to work in every day.

I’ve been mentally designing it for weeks using items that are recycled, thrifted, and gotten from Etsy. I wanted to bring together different interests that my husband enjoys. To that end, the outside of the bag has a bicycle, the inside has sail boats and the pleat on the front is accented with a nifty airplane bead. And now I’d like to share it with you.

Stuff you’ll need:

• old pair of your husband’s casual pants
• groovy, colorful fabric for interior
• old webbed belt or webbing for strap
• bicycle patch
• airplane bead

Cut a large section of the thigh out of the old pants. Mine worked out to be about 10.25 inches wide and about 11.5 inches tall. Sew the bicycle patch onto the front of the fabric. Sew the bottom of the rectangle closed and turn right side out. Turn top edge down towards inside about a half an inch and sew into place.

Cut the groovy fabric to the same dimensions as the pants fabric plus a quarter inch extra width. Sew the seam together so it is roughly the same size as the thigh fabric. Sew the bottom of the rectangle closed. Fold the top edge down towards the outside about a half an inch and sew into place.

Tuck the groovy fabric into the pants fabric and smooth them into place. Make sure that the top edges match up and pin together.

Cut the ends off the belt so just the webbing is left. Insert about an inch and a half of one end of the belt between the pants fabric and the groovy fabric. Pin into place. Do the same on the other side. Sew the two fabrics together making sure to go back over the belt a couple of times for extra strength.

Stand back and admire your beautiful new musette bag!

Oh yeah, and if you want that cute little pleat in the front then make sure you accidentally cut the interior fabric too narrow. That way you’re forced to make a little pleat and attach a really cute airplane bead. Actually, let’s not call it an accident. Let’s call it a design feature.

Comments

[Karyn]

LOL @ design feature!!!!!!!!

What a great idea Felicia, and what a super bag!!!

I recognize that airplane bead :)

Looks super!!!

[Michelle Anderson]

I love the bag. I especially love the idea of using some old pants. How great!

[corry]

Great way to recycle and perfect instructions! Very lovely bag!

[Brandy]

So funny--"design feature." You can say that it helps to hold the snacks in better, in case of rough cycling, yeah. . .

Great idea for recycling pants! I'll have to remember it, as I think we've got a few pairs sitting around.

[Tracy]

You are so clever, Felicia! Only you could make an old pair of pants look that great! Super ideas! And you hubby will enjoy using it all the more because you made it. Happy Weekend to you :o)

[Katie]

great bag! I especially love the bicycle patch!

[Randi]

So cute! I LOVE the design feature!

[Pam]

Oh I love it! The bicycle patch is really cool. Never thought about recycling pants that way. Neat idea.

[cecilia]

Oh, I really loved this idea! He must have been thrilled by your gift!

[Gwen]

That's adorable. Oh & manly incase your husband freaks out about using an adorable bag for lunch! I love the idea of using old pants to make bags.

[Jill]

This is great! Love the idea!!!

[sara]

That is a fantastic bag! And what a clever use of old pants.

[Donna]

The pleat and button is a great design feature! I have similar design features on many of my projects. Thank you for sharing the tutorial.

[Sarah]

So cute! I wonder if my dad would like one of these -- he does 100-mile bike rides once every few months or so. Maybe a little snack bag would be useful!

[true nature]

so sweet, what a nice gift! i love seeing process pictures like this.

[Meredith]

Really cute and great idea!

[Betty @ She's Sew Pretty]

That turned out great and I think the accidental pleat should be a design feature!!

[paula luckhurst]

I don't know what I like more, the bag or the wall paper.
Beautiful, they are. Both.

[sadira]

Wow...that is too wonderful...I'm kind of a bag gal...I love all the details as well...Thanks for sharing the recipe!

[Jessicah]

What a kind and thoughtful gift for your husbang using his old clothes and favourite things! He will be thinking of you every day when he eats his lunch :)

[sometimes senseless mom]

Very nice!!! I'll try to work on one soon. Thanks for the tutorial.

[Melissa]

I like this bag! I will have to make one :)

[Anne]

I like the "design feature".

[Maggie]

Felicia,

What a cute and clever bag, love the "groovy" inside fabric, knowing me, I'd want that on the outside too! :)

[jen]

me likes the bag! and i also like the toile wall paper behind it. you have that in your home?

[shannon]

Oh that is so cute. I love it.

[shannon]

Oh that is so cute. I love it.

[Catherine]

what a cute bag! great fabric choices too :)

[Clare]

Great bag, love the lining fabric. :)

[rochambeau]

Love the Musette bag you made for your husband. He is a lucky Man and Muse!

[leslie]

That really is fabulous!
I love that you used old and new and lots of different materials!
and yes, the pleated feature makes it!

[Rhoda]

Hi, Felicia, what a neat little bag for your hubby. I love the creativity of it & I really love that blue/white toile wall behind it!

You did a great job.

Rhoda

[Katherine]

What a great gift, Felicia! It's so clever in design (love it when something gets a new life and use - way to recycle!). I especially like the bicycle on the front.

[Tamar]

This bag is amazing!! I love the "Design element" - I never would have guessed its genesis!

[Jennifer]

Fantastic! Thanks for the tutorial.

[Dee Light]

what a great bag!!! Thanks for all the photos and tips!!!

[Feltland]

GREAT idea and tutorial - loved it :)

[Thimbleanna]

Some great inventions have resulted from "mistakes." Love your design feature. And on an adorable bag!

[Angela]

I love the design feature! And if you hadn't mentioned it, I would never have known it was an "oops"! The very best kind!

[LimonVerde]

Hi Felicia,

this bag is so nice and your tutorial too ;)

[Julie]

You have taken a simple little patch and turned it into something amazing! I am thrilled that you love the patch. Great work!!!xoxox craftpaca

[Robin]

I love your "design feature." I'm glad to know this happens to other people, too--although I think you did a lot better with your "oops" than I do with most of mine.

[Bethany]

GREAT idea and really cute bag!

[Breanna]

What a neat, masculine bag! I love it, and the fact that it's from a pair of pants. Very cool. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

[Chara Michele]

I like the design feature! :) What a great musette bag!

[Amy]

i love your bag! awesome idea to use blue dress pants.