Thrifty Music Stand Bag

Since my last folding music stand case vanished somewhere, it was time to make a new carrying bag. I have found that the leg of a pair of old pants is ideally suited to the purpose. The last bag I made was from the unripped leg of an old pair of jeans. Not having any old jeans lying around this time, I went to the thrift stores. I wanted durable fabric - either a bottomweight (duck, canvas, denim, twill, poplin) or a wool. These olive green wool pants at only $1.00 matched my criteria.

I was able to open up the leg seam on the outside of the hem for the casing. I zigzagged across the seam at the ends of the opening to reinforce the seam and keep it from opening up more.

Because these pants are capri length, I had to use part of the actual body of the pants. With full length pants you can just use a leg.

First I cut apart the pants down the center body seam. I didn't bother cutting off anything else (like the waistband or zipper) because that can be done easily at the end.

Leaving the outer leg seam intact, I turned them inside out & straight-stitched a new seam just below the hem casing on the center body side of the bag. My seam was stitched down an imaginary line stretching from the hem to the waistband; I really didn't care if my seam was perfectly aligned - as long as it wasn't too narrow for the stand, it was fine.

Put the stand inside the bag, leaving adequate room at the hem for closure. Mark where the stand falls on the bag and add an inch or so. Sew a seam across the bag at that point, from side seam to side seam. This is the bottom of your bag.

Trim off all the extra pant fabric, leaving 1/2" around the seams. Turn the bag right side out.

Thread a cord or twill tape through the casing.