11 People Who Sewed Old Jeans Into a Jacket, a Teddy Bear and a Family Quilt

“I made this 3pc upcycled denim dress with 8 pairs of old jeans!”

It took me about 3 days to sew and overlock and the denim is non stretch and is a bit heavy, but not in an uncomfortable way. And it’s actually super flowy while wearing (which surprised me!)

this project is for my college class (I’m in a fashion design program — 1st year) and we were assigned to take old denim clothing and turn it into something new. We had no restrictions on what we could make, so I challenged myself to this design

Pattern: I drafted this pattern on my own over about 3 days (had to figure out some thing and redrsw the pattern multiple times). I used the flat pattern method and this design has over 50 panels (between the dress, skirt and bag)

“‘Upcycled’ Pile of Old Jeans Into a New Denim Jacket”

The fabric used to be a pile of old jeans at my grandmothers house. Most of them are a large quilt block.

I think I took the lining from my grandmother’s stash. It’s just a plain cotton weave.

“Quilted side panels for some old skinny jeans!”

I seam ripped up the sides of the jeans until I hit the pocket area, at which point I didn’t want to deal with all the pocket layers on top of everything else, so I stopped. Then I measured the length I needed for the sides of the triangular inserts, and made paper templates of the shape. sewed the triangles into the seam ripped edges of the jeans following the original seam allowance!

I didn’t use any batting so they’re not stiff at all, the lining fabric is totally comfy and shields my legs from exposed seams, and they drape really nicely! I’ve been wearing em all day!

“My first bigger project — a quilt/heavy blanket. I used old jeans so many needles were broken”

I think it was 21. It was all kind of sizes from the whole family.

At least 50-60 hours maybe even more. My machine is not the best so we were often arguing with each other.

It’s a queen size. I was thinking about making a King size one but I ran out of Jeans.

“My 10 year old mended my jeans for me”

About 3 more months until these are most likely retired, and I will never get rid of them, that’s for sure 💜

“I made a dress (and hat) out of old jeans for a music festival”

I used old jeans (some mine, some thrifted). I was short on time so I didn’t make a lining and shortened it a bit. I frayed the bottom of the dress and added rips which was fun.

The festival was in San Francisco so it was a high of like 64. I really only took my jacket off for this photo! So the thick fabric was nice

“First dress! Bishop sleeve dress entirely out of old jeans”

Brand new to apparel, but not to sewing! As the title suggests it was all made with old jeans and I didn’t use any lining or interfacing, so it was definitely the cheapest project I’ve ever completed. It was daunting going into it but I’m happy with the outcome, it wasn’t too time-consuming and serging everything was very satisfying !

I struggled with that too, but I was able to get a pair from my dad that were big enough when I cut the legs apart .

“I made a journal cover out of deconstructed jeans. It holds up to 6 notebooks + my e reader!”

I’m a scatterbrained artist with a small business and I realized the best way for me to stay organized was with a bunch of separate notebooks/planners.

There are two layers of denim and I fused them together. I didn’t want the layers to slip around. I also wanted to add some stiffness to make it more sturdy which I knew the heavy duty adhesive would do. I just did a tight zigzag stitch around the edge to finish it.

The books are held in place with elastic and can easily be removed. I embellished with random charms, studs, canvas patches, iron on patches.

“I made a teddy bear out of my old jeans”

I just use plenty of stuffing and pack it really tightly.

“Denim dress I made by recycling old jeans!”

I draped it on my dress form! It was a first for me to not draft a pattern.

A total of 4 jeans went into this!

“My mom had a hole in her jeans. Now she has a poppy sticking out of her pocket :)”

My mom loves them as well! She’s always talking about how she kept trying to pick them as a child, but it would be no use because they drop their petals so soon after being picked. Now she has one that will stay intact :)