Midweek clothes upcycle - notebook and pencil folder gift sets

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Over the past 2 weeks when my girls have been on school holidays, I spent a little time sorting through my cupboards and planning some projects.

I've set myself the target of upcycling something from my old clothes stash each week - and will show them here on my blog as my

 'Midweek clothes upcycle'

So here's my first project finished:

Two pencil and notebook folders (using my own tutorial here)

And a couple of matching gift bags:

I started out with a old pair of camo shorts of my husbands that are too big and the zip is broken. I matched this with some black fabric I had in my stash.

I cut the shorts so as to make use of the many pockets!

Here's the front of the finished folder, with one pocket:

The back with 3 pockets..

And inside of course I made a pocket for the notebook, and several for the pencils:

Then another pocket hand stitched to a brown paper bag for the gift bag! The pocket can be used for a gift tag or card.

So here's the finished gift - ready for the next boys birthday someone gets invited to!

And of course I need to be prepared for a boys or girls birthday party, so I found an old dress that is now far too small for my girls, but I've kept it for a long time waiting for the perect thing to make with it!

I teamed this dress up with some plain red fabric from my stash.

I used the buttoned front of the dress for the front of the folder - so making an extra pocket that could be used to slip in special notes or papers:

And the usual inside - notebook and pencils:

Again I used the scraps from the dress to spruce up a plain brown bag to give the gift in:

A simple ruffle in the middle, a couple of fabric yoyos and a spare button.

And a little tag bag using one of the shoulder straps from the dress and fabric scraps:

So here's the complete gift ready and waiting for a birthday girl..

It feels good to be upcycling some clothes again - using up some of my stash, and also getting organised and prepared by having some ready-made handmade gifts in the cupboard!

I had fun making these folders, using various parts of the clothes to enhance the basic design of the notebook and pencil folders.  I've given several of these as gifts and they've all been a big hit. Good to be able to add a new twist to an old favourite! If you'd like to make some of these folders yourself - go here for the tutorial.

Don't forget I have a whole page of clothes upcycling projects to inspire you.

There are over 600 ideas linked up.