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This was different! |
It's when jeans get old and people start tearing them apart to make things out
of them that I get all "judgy". All too often, my first thought is, "Oh, that
was made out of an old pair of jeans".
Perhaps that's the response the maker wants to convey. After all, who among us
hasn't seen the ubiquitous purse made out of the top part of a pair of jeans?
(There are people who are willing to pay fifty bucks on
Etsy to buy one of those, too.) The thing is, while I genuinely
applaud the recycling effort — truly, truly, truly — I just don't care
for the look.
What's more, when someone in my household gives up on a pair of jeans, they
are worn through and and through. They are noticeably faded in certain areas
(i.e., knees and seat), and have distressed crease lines in various places.
Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't want a purse that looks beat up before it's
ever been used.
Of course, there are examples of crafters taking what seem to be almost
new jeans and making stuff out of them. I understand that these
people often find these denim garments at thrift shops at good prices and
that they aren't taking a perfectly good pair of jeans out of their closet
to cut up. The decidedly different take on the "old jeans" purse that you
see here (courtesy of Kinemaster on YouTube) was made
out a pair that was in relatively good shape.
Given my prejudices and propensities, you might be wondering why I'm looking
for stuff to make out of old denim at all. Well, there's a backstory to that,
and it's called...
The Tale of the Big Boat Tote
This photo was included in a post from late 2022, when I described how my
Bundled Up Bindle Bag
had become a constant companion of mine last summer, perfect for holding
essentials on our river excursions. Well, hubby had it in mind that I needed
to make a storage bag for his inflatable boat.
For those who aren't familiar with this type of
Jacques Cousteau watercraft, these are not your typical blow up toys
for sunning yourself in the pool. Once deflated, they don't really reduce
into a tiny package. My original instructions were to make a bag that was
four feet long, two feet deep and a foot and a half wide.
Hubby gave me a bag of old jeans and said that the material would be a good
choice for this boat tote. His old jeans all had big holes in the
right knee. Some were torn through elsewhere too. Harvesting usable pieces
from them — with the goal of creating a larger piece — was not as simple as
he might have thought.
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While in the midst of making the big boat tote, I was reminded of a no
sew project using the seams of old jeans.
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its 10th anniversary with a $2 sale through June 26. You can click
through to their site from the corresponding image on my sidebar at left. (I am participating with a few patterns from my own shop.)
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| Prepping pieces of old jeans... |
It involved a lot of sewing of a gradually bigger and bigger piece. The
more pieces there are, the more seams there are, and denim seams are
thick.
Adding to the problem was that when hubby saw the piece above, he
declared it not long enough for the job. It was subsequently decided
that the length needed to be about five feet.
My enthusiasm for the project dropped down to near zero.
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| It's still big... |
Luckily, when he started rooting around in the box of stuff that he got
with the boat, he discovered an "envelope" style contraption stitched up
with webbing and buckles. At first, he thought it was to tote around the
floor boards of this boat, but when he tested that theory, he realized
that the case was a lot larger than needed for the floor boards and
therefore must have been intended for the boat itself.
Whew! Big sigh of relief for me as I could then proceed with making a
bag for just the floor boards.
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| Boxed corners and reinforced straps made out of waistbands... |
Two of the larger sections of fabric that I had managed to cobble
together were sufficient for the job, which was as simple as I could
make it; i.e., large piece folded in half and side seams stitched up. I
boxed the corners to accommodate the thickness required for the boards
and used some waistbands for the handles. (No finishing of seams.)
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| Filled with cardboard and floor boards... |
It was just enough to do the job and I was happy to cross the project
off my list.
"Seamingly" Significant Scraps
You just roll them up and glue them together to create either a
coaster or a hot pad. With the long leg seams, I made a large hot pad
and one coaster (the one at the top of this post). For those first two
attempts, I used hot glue sparingly at various locations.
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| Just cut, twirl and glue... |
When I made another coaster with the shorter lengths of seams cut
from the Daisy Duke shorts that remained, I used some craft
glue liberally. The result is much more secure. This one won't come
apart whereas the first two can conceivably be "popped loose"
if someone were to push on them.
These will serve hubby well in his motorhome.
Pocket Potholders
Another project that's been relegated to the motorhome is this set of
potholders. I took apart an old oven mitt and recycled the batting to
provide the protection factor for these.
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| Pocket of jeans becomes a "grabber"... |
As you might guess, an oven mitt doesn't have perfectly straight edges.
I had to cut and piece to get two 6" x 7" pieces, which I then quilted
onto a couple of pieces of denim. For the reverse side, I sewed on a
back pocket and then wrapped the edges around to the front in a
self binding fashion.
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| Recycled oven mitt turns into a denim potholder... |
If I'd had more batting on hand, I'd have made these bigger. As it is,
they are probably the bare minimum size to be practical. (Finished size
is 7" x 8".)
Was considering using pieces of the seams to add a hanging loop for
these, but decided against it due to the thickness.
One Last Denim Project
You can't avoid the oh, you made this out of old jeans conclusion when it comes to at least two of the above projects. (The
hot pad/coasters could be less obvious to someone who has never seen
them before. Hubby was genuinely impressed when he first saw them.)
However, I had a specific task to complete and I'm happy to have done
so, while managing to make further use of the materials.
What's even better is that I came upon a fourth denim recycling project
that totally surprised me with the end result. It turned out so much
better than I anticipated and it did not trigger that "oh, you
made that with old jeans" response when I showed it to someone. However,
I've gone on long enough for today, so I'll save it for a subsequent post.
Have you recycled old jeans? If so, what did you make?
'Til next...
L.O.V.E. the coasters...and I have the old jeans in a tub just waiting... I just wonder about the finished outside "end". How did you manage that? And that hot pad - what a hoot - love that too!
ReplyDeleteYes, utility plus style - how can you beat that? The end of those things is just glued and then pinned for awhile to hold it down. They haven't come apart as far as I know. (Haven't seen them since I gave them to hubby.)
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