Sweatshirt to Tote Bag Easy DIY Tutorial

I've been aching for some DIY time and finally pieced together enough kiddie naps to finish something :)  (BTW, don't get me wrong.  I adore my children with every part of my being but I have a bunch of DIY ideas bubbling in my brain and love it when I get the time to see one through).  This one is a result of a closet cleaning.  I found an old sweatshirt from Old Navy that I haven't worn in ages and I thought it would make a cute striped tote bag.

This is the finished tote.

See tutorial after the jump!

What I Used:

• Old sweatshirt
• Coordinating ribbon - I used 1.5" wide black grosgrain

1.  Lay out and flatten your shirt.  Cut straight across right under the sleeves for the body of your tote

2.  Cut a rectangle (the biggest one you can manage) from the back of your shirt.

3.  You should now have the tote body from step 1 plus the rectangle from step 2.  The rectangle will serve as your tote bottom.

4.  Center your rectangle to your tote body (unfinished side) and pin tote bottom in place.  It's easiest to pin the longer sides first and then pin the short sides.  Now sew where you've pinned it.

5.  Cut your tote handle from your sleeves.  I sewed my sleeves together to form a 35" by 5" rectangle and folded it in half long ways (wrong side out).  I then sewed the long edge and flipped it inside out (right side out). 

6.  Attach your tote handle to each side of your tote.  I sewed 2 lines of stitching for extra security. 

7.  (Optional Belt Loops)  I cut 2.5" x ~0.75" pieces for each of the 4 belt loops.  Fold in half long ways (wrong side out) and sew down the long edge.  Flip inside out and sew onto tote.

8.  Thread ribbon through belt loops.  Bag can be used as tote (as seen on the left) or ribbon can be pulled to cinch the bag (as seen on the right).

Voila!  You're finished!

If I were to do this again, I think I'd shorten the strap but I'm going to keep it as is for crossbody usage.  What do you think of this kind of tote?  Yay or nay?