The Patchwork Duffel Bag Refashion + how to add a shoulder strap

I’d been searching for the perfect carry-on to join me on my upcoming adventures but was having a hard time finding a bag that met all of my strict criteria:

– large enough to hold the vast & varied in-flight/travel necessities for the munchkin & myself yet small enough to pass the airline’s carry-on size restrictions

– colourfully awesome, totally unique looking and second hand

As my charity shop karma was just not happening I busted out my online thrifting tips and scored this beauty in no time flat:

A fabulously colourful patchwork duffel bag described “as-new”scored for €5 including shipping!

Unfortunately when it arrived the condition was a far cry from “as-new” & it was missing the shoulder strap – fortunately my refashionista brain came up with a few groovy ideas to transform that worn out duffel into the perfect carry on bag!

The Patchwork Duffel Bag Refashion + how to add a shoulder strap:

I sifted through my stash, found some lovely colourful scraps, used this easy method to create a strong shoulder strap and securely stitched it to either side of the bag.

Hands free is a must when travelling with a kiddo!

There were quite a few small rips on one side of the bag so I revisited this tutorial and created a sturdy zippered pocket to cover & reinforce the damaged fabric.

Lovely and oh-so-useful!

The interior only had one flimsy pocket hanging down from the zipper seam so I snagged the tough denim pocket leftover from this DIY & stitched it under that dangling pocket to create a psuedo-hidden-compartment.

Hooray! The perfect carry on!

Now I just have to decide which journey to tackle first: Italy? New York? England?

There are groovy reasons behind each destination but my brain is so chock full that making a choice is proving to be an impossible task!

Where do YOU think the munchkin & I should go?

2 Comments

  1. Did you let the seller know that rips does not equal ‘as new’?! The strap is not shown in the photo, so I would say that was part of the description, but if the rips were neither mentioned nor photographed they were being naughty. You still got a bargain, but if you didn’t sew, it would not have worked out so well. Love your bag and what you’ve done with it 🙂

    I vote Italy.

    1. Nah, when I score something for €1 in need of a bit of refashionista magic I just let loose the creativity – complaining to a private ebay seller for such a small amount of money is a waste of my precious time that will only result in a cranky response, not worth the energy. It is very disappointing when a bag is described “as-new” but is ripped & missing the strap that should have attached to the clips on either side but as I easily made a fantastic carry on out of it the thrifty buy was still fab!

      Whenever I get a not-as-described online thrift score I always ask myself if I would have picked it up & spent the same for it in an actual charity shop, if the answer is yes then there’s no need to be that disappointed and if the answer is no, then I simply refashion it into something completely different…life is too short to dwell on the negative aspects & “what-ifs” of thrifty online purchases.

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