So Much Denim, So Little Time

I have been collecting denim for years while planning a craft book, Do It Again Denim.

I have a friend who gives me all her children’s worn out jeans. I think, she thinks I might be a little crazy for wanting them.

Every few months my husband asks me, “What are you going to do with all these jeans?”

“I have a plan.”

Every time my kids would come to me with a pair of worn out jeans, I would take them greedily. They were mine now, all mine. Oh the things I could make.

The jeans piled up. I was running out of space. I piled them in the basement bathtub we weren’t using. They filled the tub and piled half way up the tub wall. Ah, what a beautiful sight.

“What are you going to do with all those jeans?”

“I have a plan.”

In a lot of houses, favorite jeans that get worn out can be a sad and depressing thing, but in my house, it is an occasion to celebrate. So much denim fabric goes to waste every year because they get holes in the knees and seat. People actually throw them out. (Please don’t tell me if you do.) But not here in my house. I have plans to use even the smallest pieces.

Over the years, I have come up with over 100 things to make from those seemingly useless, old, worn out jeans. Some of the projects are small, while others are quite large. Some are no-sew easy projects, while others are quite involved body-builder advanced projects.

Next week, as I work on my proposal for this craft book, I plan to start adding simple projects you can make from your old jeans to this blog. I will show you that they may be worn out and unwearable jeans but they are far from useless.

I get giddy just thinking of all the things I can make. I’ll cover my house in discarded denim. One person’s castoff is another’s treasure.