denim crafts | Indoor Air Quality Lab

Upcycled Denim Basket share

An upcycled denim project that helps you organize your shelves? Yes, please!

I love using little bowls and baskets around the house to kind of wrangle some of the tiny clutter that seems to sneakily pile up on every surface. We have a bowl in our foyer to keep keys and sunglasses and baskets on our shelves to organize our kid's toys, video game controllers, and my craft supplies. This upcycled denim basket would be the perfect addition to my ecclectic organizational system!

The Renegade Seamstress created this tutorial to use as an Easter basket, but I could see it working well for my son's little sets of blocks or in an entryway to collect keys, wallets, and other random pocket items in a more organized way.

Her tutorial is over at eHow, and you only need a few simple supplies:

upcycled denim - Old jeans work best for this project
fabric scissors - Cutting denim with dull scissors is no fun, and it's hard to cut a straight line without nice, sharp shears.
hot glue gun - A crafter's best friend!
ruler or tape measure

Got your supplies in order? Click here for the upcycled denim basket tutorial!

Posted: | Categories: Craft Recycled, denim crafts, DIY, Easter basket, Easter crafts, upcycled denim

Sep

Denim Crafts: 5 Ways to Reuse Old Jeans share

Last week I shared a site where you can recycle old denim that's in no shape to even use for crafting, but what about those old jeans that would still hold up to the craft knife? Here are some fun denim crafts to make those old jeans new again!

When you're shopping for thrift store jeans or just perusing the denim in your closet, do you ever come across a pair of jeans that are either in need of repair or too damaged to wear but have plenty of usable denim left? Instead of tossing that denim in the bin, you can use your crafty skills to turn them into something usable and new.

The big problem with throwing organic matter like denim in the trash is that when it breaks down in the landfill, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that's much more harmful to our planet than CO2. If your old jeans are too threadbare to even cut up and craft with - or if you're left with denim scraps at the end of your craft project - take a look at Blue Jeans Go Green, a service that recycled old denim and turns it into insulation!

OK, got those old jeans ready? Let's create some denim crafts!

1. Denim Stamps

Before you ship off those denim scraps for recycling, check out this tutorial from Karen Lee on how to turn those scraps into cute little stamps. Not only are you keeping denim out of the landfill, but you can skip a trip to the craft store to buy a mass-produced stamp. Boom!

2. DIY Wrist Cuffs

Old jeans are perfect for creating wrist cuffs for yourself or to give as gifts. You can actually use any heavy fabric that you have handy, so grab some scissors and old jeans, and get crafty!

3. Denim Crafts: Recycled Denim Bowl

Cut that denim into strips, grab your crochet hook, and whip up a cute denim bowl out of your old jeans. Miko at She's Crafty doesn't give a step-by-step for this one, but any crocheted bowl tutorial that calls for chunky yarn will work here.

4. Mend Old Jeans

Do your favorite jeans have a tear in them? Turn that imperfection into a beautiful detail with reverse applique!

5. Denim Jewelry

This is another denim craft that's great for using up those scraps of old jeans. Spotted Canary shares a very cute tute for making a denim necklace over at Craftster.

Posted: | Categories: Craft Recycled, denim crafts, DIY, reuse old jeans

Feb

Craft Recycled: 5 Ways to Alter and Repair Your Jeans share

I love shopping for jeans at the thrift store. Some of my favorite pairs of jeans have come from the thrift store and cost me less than $5. The thing that can be frustrating is when you find a pair of jeans that would be perfect except for one little detail. Maybe they have a small tear, are a bit too long, or fit great in the hips but have a cheesy bell bottom thing happening. Never fear! Whip out that sewing machine, crafty friends, because you can easily fix these problems and turn those thrifted jeans into your favorite pair.

1. Hemming

Hemming is probably the most basic repair you can do, and there are a couple of ways to go about it. The easiest is to cut off the pants, fold them to the length you want, and sew the seam, but you can also hem your jeans and keep the original hem, if you like the look of it. Here are tutes for both methods:

2. Lengthening

Shortening jeans is very Sewing 101, and it's not that hard to add a little length to jeans that are a little too short. Julie over at Crafting a Green World shows you a simple way to lengthen too-short jeans.

3. Patching

Confession: I love a patch! Sometimes I add patches to things that aren't even torn, just to up the cute factor. Whether you want to add a splash of color or cover up a tear or stain, check out this tutorial on how to sew a patch. Easy peasy!

4. Reverse Applique

Reverse applique might sound daunting and fancy, but it's really not much harder than sewing a patch. Get more deets on reverse applique and how to use this method to repair torn jeans here!

5. DIY Skinny Jeans

Ever tried on a pair of pants at the thrift store that are super cute until you get to the knees, where they balloon out into bell bottoms? Fear not! You can turn those outdated duds into skinny jeans that fit like a glove. I love this skinny jeans tutorial from Cut Out + Keep for taking in those pant legs!

Have you done any creative repairs or alterations on old jeans from your closet or from the thrift store? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

Image Credit: Thrift Store Jeans photo via Bigstock

Posted: | Categories: Clothes+Accessories, Craft Recycled, denim crafts, DIY, how to alter jeans, how to repair jeans, Living, mending, repair, repair old jeans

Feb

Spotted: Repair Torn Jeans with Lace share

Did your favorite pair of jeans get an unsightly rip? You can repair torn jeans by adding a sassy lace detail!

We are all about mending instead of replacing around here, and one of my favorite things about mending is that you can make your repair into the centerpiece of the garment. That could mean using contrasting thread, a cute patch, or - like Sophie at The Forge - a super cute lace reverse applique!

What is reverse applique?

For these purposes, you can think of applique as basically a fancy word for patch, and a reverse applique is a patch sewn behind the hole or tear, rather than on top. So, instead of sewing a piece of lace on top of the hole in your jeans, you sew it in on the inside of the garment, so the lace peeks out from behind the tear.

I love the depth that reverse applique can give a project. Some designers use it intentionally on original garments and accessories, and using it for repair adds some interest while fixing a problem at the same time. How cool is that?

Using this method for a repair is easy as pie. If you don't have lace handy, you could really reverse applique with anything! Choose a cute fabric scrap from your stash, for example. With jeans, the only caveat I'd give is to choose something that's not too flimsy, because you want your repair to stand up to wear and tear.

All you need to repair your torn jeans are:

the jeans in question
sand paper
scissors
iron-on transfer paper
lace or scrap fabric
iron
a sewing machine
thread that matches the color of the jeans you're mending

Ready to get mending? Get the tutorial here!

Posted: | Categories: Clothes+Accessories, denim crafts, DIY, how to repair jeans, Living, mending clothing, repair torn jeans, reverse applique, sewing

Category Archives:denim crafts