Tin Bag DIY

I love tins. My mum has always had an unhealthy obsession with vintage tins, and I think it has well and truly rubbed off on me too....

I particularly like old food tins from iconic brands like Heinz, where the paint has chipped and is peeling but is so beautiful :) I do also like a few new tins, such as the tin in this DIY.

I use tins to hold pens, paint, hair clips etc, and even just as decoration on shelves in my house.

Here I decided to utilise this pretty Cath Kidston tin from Homewoodbound collections and make it into a cute but functional bag to carry little bits and pieces in. I've always chosen and worn shoulder bags with longer straps as I find handbags quite irritating as I don''t like to have to hold things when I'm out and about (probably because I'm too busy photographing slugs and eating) and with shoulder bags your free to manoeuvre freely, or as freely as possible at least.

What you will need:

1 Tin of your choice, a suitable size for a bag/purse

two large jump rings (I cut mine from an old nag I no longer wanted)

A strap - either a tape measure like mine, a leather strap (you could use and old belt), material, or chain

A sewing machine

Drill, with a drill bit 1 mm larger than your jump ring (mine was 5 mm)

pliers

1. To make your strap, you need to measure how long you want it to be. I like quite a long strap so that the bag sits on my hips, but this is your own decision. My strap was 57inch. You need to measure 4 cm extra for seam allowance. Once you have measured your desired strap, you will need to thread each end through the metal jump ring, fold it over, and using your sewing machine fasten the ends down, just like the picture below.

2. This is where you made need some help - Scott is really good at things like this, so he drilled the holes and attached the rings for me, but know I know what to do - I can safely say it is actually quite simple to do!

3.You need to make the holes in your tin, as shown below. You will need four holes, two at each side of your tin, on the sides of your tin that are near to the lid. 

To determine where the holes will be, you need to hold your jump rings next to your tin, and measure the points it will need to be (This is easier if you open the lid and visualise the jump rings by holding them above)

Be careful when drilling! As you obviously don't want to drill through any body parts....

4. You can now attach the jump rings as shown below. I used pliers to open the rings, then threaded them through the holes, before closing them up again with the pliers. Don't worry if the ends don't meet perfectly, you may have to cross them over to keep them in place (This happened to mine)But you won't see it as the joint is inside the bag.

And that is it! I'm thinking of trying out some more tins now I've mastered this one, so I'll keep you posted on my progress.  You may want to add a fastening yo your bag if it isn't secure enough, I'm sure a simple latch/clip would hold it in place, so maybe on my next go I will post a little 'HOW TOO' of that as well :)

P.s Thanks again to Scott for helping with this one :).. He secretly loved being manly and using the drills etc.