DIY: Ways to turn old jeans into useful masterpieces

Photo by Dayne Francis | The Signal


We grow out of our denim jeans frequently when growing up, jeans that fit us at age twelve won’t go past our knees at age 15. And once you hit adulthood, not fitting into jeans that fit the year before is just discouraging, and that’s when the running shoes break out. However, there are some fun activities to do that will take your mind off the extra/decreased two inches around the waist.

There are varieties of options when using your old denim for new purposes, and they range from home decor to fashion pieces. So grab a pair of scissors and start making the pile of jeans in the corner of your closet functional once again.

Denim Pocket Organizer

Bare walls are the worst, and so are overflowing junk drawers. When needing to store everyday necessities like scissors, tape, pencils/pens and chargers in your home, it’s usually in that one sad drawer. It eventually doesn’t close all the way and becomes an eyesore, so with this DIY you can store some of those items in a unique, rustic way.

Materials needed:

  • An old burlap sack or woven cloth material
  • A couple pairs of jeans
  • A scrap of wood (conventional laptop-sized)
  • Stapler
  • Thick yarn
  • Sewing kit (optional)
  • Glue gun (optional)
  • Rhinestones or decorative accessories (optional)

Let’s Begin:

  • Step 1: Take the piece of wood and cut the cloth material to a size that would cover the front and sides to the wood.
  • Step 2: Hot glue the cloth onto the wood, make sure to get the sides and corners.
  • Step 3: Cut out the back pockets of your jeans, preferably resulting in four to five pockets at the end.
  • Step 4: Place the pockets on the cloth-covered side of the wood in any pattern or style desired.
  • Step 5: Once you have decided the wanted look, use either the sewing kit or hot glue and attach the rims of the pockets to the cloth leaving the top open. Make sure no openings are left on the other three sides.
  • Step 6: Once that is completed, you can begin placing rhinestones or any other accessories onto the pockets or remaining area of the cloth-covered wood. Or you can keep the board rural-looking and simple too.
  • Step 7: Once the front has dried, flip the board over. Then, cut a portion of yarn, about a foot, and hot glue each end of it at the top of the board. This will act as a hooking device when wanting to hang the board up on the wall.

Once you have hung the board up or laid it against the wall, you can begin to place those everyday items into the pockets. As young adults, every aspect of our lives can be hectic and disorganized, so let’s have control over one thing and clean out that forsaken drawer.

Decorative Denim Pillow

Throws pillows have no real purpose, like ever. However, it’s a decorative piece that everyone is obsessed with and should be, they are cute af. It’s the pillows in any room that tie the entire “look” together. They are what can make hot pink and orange look somewhat decent in the slightest, when having both those colors in the room.

The good thing about a denim-colored pillow is that it actually can go with pretty much everything, excluding a totally modern-futuristic style because that combo would be jank.

Materials needed:

  • Used jeans
  • Used belts (optional)
  • Scissors
  • Sewing machine/ Sewing kit
  • Stuffing

Let’s Begin:

  • Step 1: Start by grabbing a pair of jeans and cutting off both the legs.
  • Step 2: Next, snip along the seam with the scissors to open each cut off portion up.
  • Step 3: Place one on top of the other and have the outside in.
  • Step 4: Se along the sides of the cloth, and leave one side open.
  • Step 5: Then, flip the case inside out and fill the case with the stuffing.
  • Step 6: Sew with the machine or hand sew the last opening.
  • Step 7: If desired, grab a small belt and wrap it around the pillow, hooking it at a length where the belt won’t fall off. This can be a fashionable accent to the look, but isn’t necessary.

Fluff out your style with this adorable DIY, and get ready to sit and bask in the glory of that pillow, because that’s all a throw pillow is good for really. And that’s okay.

 

Denim Headband

A cute headband can make a lazy, plain outfit look like there was somewhat of an effort made. For college students, that is an essential bonus. When we are crying inside from all the tests and papers, traffic and empty bank accounts, the last thing on our mind is looking good for classes.

This quick and simple project can create an abundance of different headbands to be able to change up the outfit everyday.

Materials needed:

  • Plain plastic headband (Dollar Store, Walmart or Target)
  • One pair of jeans
  • Glue gun
  • Scissors
  • Cute flower accessories or other accessories to add (optional)

Let’s Begin:

  • Step 1: Cut a slit at the bottom of the pants and begin ripping up to as far as it will go.
  • Step 2: Start cutting more slits one and a half inches wide from one another, and rip those toward the top as well.
  • Step 3: When you reach to the top of the pants with every strip, cut the strips free from the jeans.
  • Step 4: Then, cut a small chunk off one of the strips at one end, about three fourths large. Do this to two strips to get two pieces in total.
  • Step 5: Take one chunk that was cut and fold it over each end of the headband. Then fold it over the band and secure with a glue gun.
  • Step 6: Place the edge of the strip close to the tip of the headband. Then, wrap the strip over the band and hot glue it.
  • Step 7: Pull the fabric at an angle and begin wrapping it around the headband, remember to add hot glue continuously to add security.
  • Step 8: Once you’ve wrapped it around to the very end, hot glue the end of the strip down.
  • Step 9: Leave it be or add some embellishments if desired, like small plastic flowers or rhinestones.

Pimp your head out with this accessory and bring some life back into fashion in college.