Handmade crafts from old jeans: sewing techniques, master classes for children and beginners and photos of design options
The use of denim fabric to create items of clothing, interiors, jewelry and much more is still popular. Jeans will never go out of fashion. Jeans products are associated with comfort, versatility, fashion. Things made of this fabric are well combined with different clothing styles.
Everybody has at least 1 pair of old, outdated jeans in his closet. They can, of course, be thrown away, but you can make something new and original. For example, to make a functional craft. Some of the crafts are created very simply, and sometimes you have to sweat.
Ideas, what to make out of denim a huge set, the article deals only a small part.
Features of denim fabric
Like most fabrics denim has 2 types of threads in its structure:
- The warp thread. Responsible for how strong the fabric will be. Dyed white and visible only on the wrong side.
- Weft yarn. Is the warp of the fabric. Dyed in the color blue.
The color of the sky denim acquires thanks to the dye "indigo".
Denim products can shrink a lot after washing. For this reason, new items should be washed very carefully and should not be wrung out.
Now you can find both the usual products of denim, and absolutely unthinkable: jeans, panama pants, boots, jewelry and much more.
Sewing techniques
The most common technique for creating products from denim is patchwork.
Denim patchwork is sewing from scraps of denim. This technique is known for over a century. Previously, the popularity of patchwork products was not so much due to the need to recycle old things, as the difficulty of acquiring fabrics, especially with a beautiful pattern.
With the growth of textile production, the need to preserve the beautiful patchwork is no longer necessary, due to greater availability of fabrics for ordinary people. Because of this, patchwork sewing was long forgotten. Today, in the needlework community patchwork has only a decorative value and has many kinds.
Sewing with scraps of denim is a fairly common activity.
To create products in the technique of denim patchwork suitable as material from old denim clothes, as well as purchased new pieces of fabric. For the product to please even more, it is necessary to take into account the nuances:
- Purchased material should be pre-washed or steamed to give it shrinkage.
- Pieces of used items are recommended to be a little starchy and ironed.
- When making one item, it is better to use the same density of denim scraps.
- Parts that are exposed to high loads during use, it is recommended to strengthen the durable material.
- Thin and medium density denim is enough 0.75 cm seam allowance. On a dense denim do not need an allowance at all, otherwise the seams will stand out strongly and protrude. Such items are joined with a zigzag stitch on a backing of another material.
Modeling with scraps of denim is quite an interesting activity, so it is better to prepare everything you need in advance: crayons, pins, scissors, tape, needles, thread, sewing machine, iron.
Practical crafts from jeans
It is wrong to think that the crafts are useless. You can make very practical and useful things.
Pillow
Such a product is easy to creatively place in the design of the room. And if you add pockets to the pillow, you get a place for different things.
The pillow can be made most simple, or you can decorate it with decorative elements.
Half a pant leg of jeans is enough to make a small pillow.
For the more complex version prepare squares of denim material in different colors. The size of the squares will depend on the size of the future pillow. Then lay out the blanks to get a preliminary pattern, and then you can sew them together.
A pillow sewn from four or more different colored pieces can be decorated with applique, embroidery, or lace. It is very beautiful!
Furniture upholstery
Tired of the existing upholstery of chairs? Want to change it? The solution is simple, especially if you have a lot of pieces of denim. Consider the detailed instructions for replacing chair upholstery. You will be able to create a chair design for any interior.
So that the difference in the shade of denim is not conspicuous, the chairs create a design on the front of the upholstery material, which will unite them.
Materials and tools for the job:
- unwanted jeans;
- scissors;
- spray paint;
- thick cooking paper;
- sharp knife;
- trimming tablet;
- textile paint;
- simple pencil;
- screwdriver;
- furniture stapler;
- sandpaper;
- newspapers or tape;
- iron;
- The chairs themselves to replace the upholstery.
Workflow:
- Remove the seats. Scrape off all unnecessary parts with sandpaper. If the chairs do not need to be painted, see step 3.
- Apply paint to the chairs.
- Sketch the stencil with cooking paper. Use a knife to carefully trim off any excess from the stencil.
- Separate a piece of denim suitable for replacing the seat upholstery in size.
- Place the prepared stencil on the future upholstery and smooth with an iron.
- Draw the outline of the pattern with paint, having previously placed the fabric with the stencil on newspapers or film. You do not want to stain everything around.
- After the pattern dries, the paper can be removed.
- Position the draped part of the chair on the wrong side of the blank, soft side down. Attach the fabric to the seat, pulling it slightly taut.
- For even tension, secure the fabric in loose areas with furniture staples. Cut off any excess.
- Fasten the overstretched element in its place. Done!
Kitchen Accessories
Here you should let your imagination run wild!
Denim makes great organizers, oven mitts, and even an apron with lots of pockets.
You can make a thermal cover for the handle of your favorite cast-iron skillet. It will be a great alternative to the usual oven mitts.
Coasters for hot food can be made jointly with the younger generation. For children, it will be useful and fun, no less than for adults. They are made fairly easily, but useful in everyday life can bring the sea.
Very original look napkins for table setting. They can be made even more original and add a pocket for cutlery.
The most familiar kitchen accessory made of denim will be an oven glove.
Organizer
Every hostess has a lot of small, but necessary things that tend to get lost.
To keep everything you need, you can buy ready-made storage containers. But you can ennoble the storage space with your own hands. And here again denim comes to the rescue. Materials needed:
- Pieces of denim material;
- Scissors;
- Containers;
- Corrugated cardboard;
- Glue gun;
- Decor elements.
All parts from denim items will do the job. Cut the material into rectangular pieces the size of the containers. Remember to add on the seams.
Use hot glue to attach them to the prepared jars. Cut at the top and bottom and twist.
After preparing the containers, decorate them to your liking.
To achieve a more compact size, join the prepared containers with hot glue. Circle the organizer on corrugated cardboard. Cover the future bottom with appropriate material. Connect the jars and the bottom. Decorate the glue line, ribbon, large crystals.
A unique organizer is ready!
Coverlet .
To create a bedspread, you need a large amount of denim fabric. You will also need a lot of time to make it. The technique is denim patchwork. The principle of creation is similar to making a pillow. The more difficult, the more interesting for creative people.
Homemade slippers
If you like to walk at home in slippers, not barefoot, in that case sew them yourself. To make them, you need denim pants and insoles of the required size.
First, create a pattern on the material. Do not forget about the additions on the seams, otherwise the sole will be too narrow.
There are two options for preparing the sole:
- Tighten the insole on both sides;
- to tighten the insole on one side only.
The template for the top of the slipper can be downloaded from the Internet, or you can construct yourself. It can be made from a whole piece of fabric, or use the technique of patchwork sewing.
Apron
To create an apron you need a few old jeans. Jeans are joined together by the pants, and the excess fabric is trimmed. In this version, the back pockets will move to the chest part of the product. This will make a pretty apron for everyday use.
If you want a more colorful apron, sew a nice oblique sash around the entire perimeter. Also make the ties out of a brightly colored slash.
Use your imagination and make a colorful apron. Finished product, if desired, decorate.
Great crafts from old jeans ready!
Accessories from denim
Give a second life to unwanted jeans you can, if you think about creating homemade accessories.
Purse
To make a small handbag, you need denim of a beautiful shade. The work order is as follows:
- Prepare a simple pattern for a craft from denim. Usually make such a rectangular base.
- Prepare the material by removing all unnecessary and cut thick seams.
- Pockets do not have to cut, they can be a highlight of the product.
- If there is a need, the pieces can be easily stitched together. Watch the overall size of the fabric fabric, it should be enough to cut the purse.
- Cut out all the details of the bag.
- From a soft but sturdy fabric you need to make the lining part. Connect the lining to the denim piece and stitch both standing on the bottom.
- The untrimmed edges on top can be nicely trimmed with strips of fabric.
- All that's left to do is sew on the handle, clasp, and add embellishments.
Costume Jewelry
And how many different accessories you can create from denim, it's hard to even imagine!
A removable collar can also be made out of denim. The easiest thing to do is to separate the collar from an unwanted shirt, and sew a denim fabric on top. Such an unusual accessory will attract a lot of looks.
Believe it or not, they even make earrings out of denim material. They look stylish and no one else will not have the same.
According to a similar scheme and make an unusual necklace, unique and emphasizing your style.
The guide shows how to make a camellia out of denim. According to this guide, you can sew a flower from a more delicate fabric. Materials needed:
- Pieces of denim fabric;
- Thread;
- Needles;
- The base for the brooch;
- Scissors;
- Pins;
- Beads.
A detailed guide for making a flower:
- On a sheet of paper, draw a rectangular frame 7 by 9 cm. In the rectangle depict a petal. Cut out the finished template.
- Secure the template on the fabric. Cut out several petals from the template. Do not strive to get perfectly flat and identical petals. In nature, flowers do not have completely identical petals, as people have fingerprints.
- On each piece make a crease and fasten it. This is how you will give them the shape of real petals.
- Assemble the first level of the flower with 7 petals. Fold them overlapping and fasten the "stitch forward".
- Assemble another level of flower with 7 petals. For it use petals the same size as the first flower or slightly smaller.
- If you use more petals per level, the flower will be more lush.
- Connect the first flower with the second.
- In the middle of the flower fix a pearl bead, and around the circle crystal or beads. If there are no beads, the core can be decorated with fabric. This option is more modest, but also looks beautiful.
- Fasten the flower to the base for the brooch.
Cosmetic bag
Back pockets are also used in creating interesting things. For example, they make a great cosmetic bag.
More pockets make a bigger cosmetic bag. From the pockets from children's jeans you will get a small purse.
Materials and tools needed:
- back pockets from jeans;
- zipper along the length of the upper part of the pocket;
- sewing machine;
- thread;
- pins;
- decorative elements.
So, get to work:
- Separate the back pockets from the jeans.
- Secure the zipper on the wrong side of the pockets to the top edge. Sew the zipper, about 1 cm from the edge.
- Decorate the pockets or, skip this stage of the work.
- Attach the pockets with the wrong sides facing each other. If the zipper is longer than the side, remove its tails inside.
- Sew the pockets with a zigzag stitch.
- Additionally stitch the joints with the zipper to better fix the corners.
Your cosmetic bag is ready!
Jeans Cover
Used jeans can be turned into a new passport cover or a favorite notebook.
To make the cover you will need:
- A pant leg from a pair of jeans pants.
- Fleece.
- Duct tape.
- Sewing thread.
- Embroidering thread.
- Needles.
Let's get to work:
- First, we embroider a pattern on the fabric.
- Cut a rectangle the width and length of the passport cover with the resulting embroidery. Do not forget to add seam allowances 0.7-1 cm on all sides.
- From the lining fabric we make the same rectangles. Also prepare the elements for the inside of the cover.
- The elements of the inner trim fold in half and iron well. Next, along the even edge, place the hemming tape. Connect the parts by means of "cobwebs".
- The more layers of lining fabric you have, the denser and more resistant the cover will be.
- Glue the prepared embroidered part with thick fleece.
- The fleece part is cut out without any additions to the seams!
- If you have the desire and opportunity, you can add decorative stitches to the denim part.
- Combine the denim piece with the prepared pieces of lining material and side pockets.
- To prevent the parts from shifting, join them together for security.
- Add edging in the same material as the lining. Start sewing from the bottom. Stitch the trim strip and denim piece together with the outside sides facing each other. Stitch all the pieces, backing away from the edge.
- Fold the trim to the wrong side, fold in the seam additions, secure with pins or a fitting stitch, and iron.
- Sew the additions by hand with a countersunk stitch.
- The cover is ready!
Cases for gadgets, glasses.
You can also create practical accessories out of heavy denim. For example, a case for sunglasses.
Materials and tools for work:
- Glasses;
- Denim material;
- Lining material;
- Fleece;
- Zipper closure;
- Thread;
- Needle;
- Scissors;
- Sewing machine;
- Slash.
A detailed guide for sewing the eyeglass case:
- Cut out parts from the base fabric and lining fabric to fit the glasses. Do not forget to add allowances.
- Glue ready denim with fleece.
- On the narrow sides of parts of two fabrics on the wrong side. On the lining material add extra ironing on the seams.
- Sew the locks between the short sides of the denim piece and the lining, but only on 1 side.
- Stitch.
- Similarly, sew the lock on the second side and stitch on the sewing machine.
- Fasten all the pieces together with pins or tack along the long edges. Machine stitch them at the very edge. Particular attention must be paid to the zipper connections.
- If the zipper is longer than the item, cut off the excess.
- Trim the raw edges with a slash.
- Turn the cover inside out.
- Stitch the edges along the edge of the oblique sashes.
- Make the corners and stitch about 2 cm. This will give extra volume.
- Turn the product inside out again.
- Case is ready!
The same principle is used to make cases for PowerBank, phone, purse, and more!
Denim home decorations
You can decorate the interior of your own home with homemade crafts. Their price is minimal, but the design is memorable and unique.
Rug
Most often mats are made in the style of denim patchwork. To create it you need a lot of denim and patience. But the options for the implementation of creative ideas in the creation of a huge variety.
Frames for pictures
Decorating frames with denim material is another option to diversify the interior. It is made easy. Prepare strips of denim of different lengths. Twist them one by one and glue them on the frame. What the result will be, depends only on your imagination.
Do not throw away used denim things. From them you can create a huge variety of useful and interesting things. From denim you can sew even toys. But about this for another time.