Today I have another recycling or up-cycling idea that I have had quite a bit of fun with! With 8 people in our family we are always having to replace someones jeans and we end up with quite a pile of old jeans that have holes in the knees or some other problem that keeps them from being a candidate for reuse as clothing. This made me start to think about what I could do to make them into some other useful item.
I always love to look at pinterest and find ideas there. I think it’s kind of like the Ladies Home Journal or Good Housekeeping that my mom used to love to look at when I was a kid. Some of the ideas that I decided to try were, potholders, Christmas stockings, Christmas ornaments, purses, pillows, gift bags, place mats, table runners, quilts and even a bean bag or chair covering. It seems there is no end to the things that can be made out of used denim if you set your mind to figuring it out!
I really enjoy using the pockets from old jeans on things that I make. I think they could be used by themselves to make a small phone purse or added to a skirt or pillow that you are making that are not made out of denim to add a little extra decoration. They can even be glued to the front of a gift bag as an added decoration.
I’ve included a few pictures of some of the things I’ve made out of denim, if there is something unique that you have made I’d love to hear from you! Sometimes, as in the potholders at the top of this post, the paint spots on the jeans can end up adding to the picture that you are creating! I used the part of the jeans with paint in these potholders to be clouds in the sky of my picture.
As in all recycling and up-cycling projects there are some obvious benefits besides the fun of creating. Some of these benefits are saving items from being dropped off at the landfill so quickly, saving money on gifts that you want to give and being able to give a gift from the heart that you have invested a bit of yourself and your imagination into. I don’t know about you but those kinds of gifts are sometimes my favorite to receive.
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