Well, this is my first time doing a Craftster challenge, so I'm a little nervous

Here's the story....I've been hanging onto this really cool shirt that my husband had, but never wore. It's corduroy and has Dragons & Tigers on it. I knew I wanted to turn it into a bag of some sort, but could never decide on a style. Plus, I'm just getting into recycling clothes and sewing without a pattern to guide me, so I didn't even really know
what I could do realistically. Once I saw the PBW challenge, I decided it was time! So I looked at all the store bought purses I own, and it became apparent that I tend to like one particular style and I figured that was a good jumping off point.
I looked at
this tutorial to get an idea of how to construct the purse, but I didn't want all the pleats. I sketched up a quick little pattern for the shape I wanted, and started cutting. This is what I ended up with after a day of sewing:

Please excuse my appearance...I'm 7.5 months pregnant

It turned out better than I expected, and when I showed it to my husband he called it a banana purse. Long live the Dragon Banana Purse!
Here are some more detailed pictures:

The other side...dragons & tigers - oh my!

I did put 4 pleats on each side, 2 at each corner. I also re-used the front button placket to make the strap because of the really neat snaps it had. Diamond shaped with a faux mother of pearl inlay!

The lining!
And these are the shirts I used to make it. The only extra things I used were Thread, and a zipper.

