Lemons to Lemonade

This has been a trying week. The kind of week that makes you shake your fists up to the sky. I will spare you the details, but I will say that the week was wrapped up with my son's car completely giving up the ghost. When I bought the Santa Fe on January 1, 2004 it was my goal to drive it for ten years until it was time for my son to drive and give it to him (mission accomplished!). Unfortunately, 11 years and 250,000+ miles later, it could go no further.
I had to find something positive in this week (seriously) so before the junkman came to pick up the car I decided I would find something salvageable to make a handbag, auction it off, and give any proceeds to my son.  We do not do car payments in this house (nod to Dave Ramsey) so my son has a bit of a road ahead to get to the next beater car. Its tough getting a job when you don't have transportation. 
I wanted to show you some of the journey. If you also want to bid on the bag the link will be at the end.  This really isn't about the money (I do not think I'll get the $2,000 out of the bag that he will need) but more about showing him how to creatively problem solve, network with folks, and make the best out of a bad situation.

He were are doing the cutting. I have to say, that was fun. I may want to visit some junk yards and do this again.

I really didn't have a set plan on how I was going to make a bag. I left everything on the table and walked by it about a hundred times while I worked it out. Well, actually, the first thing I did was wash them. Let's face it, the car was 11 years old and those seatbelts had been hit by a French fry or two over the years.

I have to say, they washed up really well. I knew I wanted it to close using the seatbelt buckle, so that let me to a messenger style. I had to make up the pattern since it was based on the amount of seatbelt I had. I had to cut strips and layer them to create "fabric" pieces

You know that phrase measure twice and cut once? Oh yes, I was there. I measured and recalculated about 10 times. I knew if I cut it wrong that would be the end of that. It's not like I could get anything else out of the Santa Fe.  Seatbelts are not particularly difficult to sew but they are SLIPPERY. I had to use pins a lot more than usual, and I have the battle wounds to show for it.

I ran into a few snags along the way. The first was that I used all the seatbelts from the Hyundai and didn't have anything for the strap. Luckily, I remembered that I had picked up a red seatbelt at The Scrap Exchange a long time ago (not knowing what to do with it at the time). Problem solved.

Next issue was attaching that buckle to the bottom without it looking "attached". Problem solved with more red seatbelt. I'd love to say I figured it out that fast, but ALAS sometimes you get brain locked. It took a definite minute or 30...

More process pictures above, and the end result below:

If you are interested in bidding or following the auction, the bag is listed here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seatbelt-handbag-upcycled-recycled-from-vehicle-/301548318066?
Also, feedback and blog comments are much appreciated! Thanks