Re-Cyle, Up-Cycle, Old Denim Jeans



Old jeans?  Legs grow or high waters?  Cut'em off for summer, and have some fun re-purposing!  My daughter spent a little time, and colorful embroidery floss to embellish some jeans that she cut off.  Then her friends join in on the fun by using a piece of the leg material to make hot-pads.

Both are great projects for teens!  Keep those girls busy, nurture a love of creating as well as confidence!

The jean shorts project is self explanatory I think.  For the hot-pads, we cut a double layer of OLD TOWEL and inserted into the leg piece.  Then all you have to do is fold inward the cut edges, and whip stitch or blind stitch or tack.  

For the girls' experience I am a believer in letting them EXPERIENCE and do it as they wish.  It is a learning experience and most of all I want them to experience pride, and hopefully give them a positive experience that they will build on in years to come.  I hope this is the first of many fun creative projects that they do.... say with old denim...




Free-style is how I would describe this design above.  Below, notice what is on her thumb.  Ya'll, it is a homemade thimble!!  Now I showed her how to use it, demonstrating with it on my middle finger, but this is how she chose to use it.  Far be it from me to interfere with autonomy and creativity at work.

I made extra THIMBLES out of literally a drinking straw split down middle and bent over finger and then fortified with masking tape.  I am the queen of improvising.  We did not have enough thimbles for everyone so I made one for everyone.

They had the experience of doing it this time.  Next time I will teach them the applique stitch.  These designs were their own.  I talked to them about options for not even 5 minutes, and showed them a few examples and got them started in concept and then left them alone, the way I knew they preferred to work.  I went and checked on them periodically, and praised them, and "I really am so proud of their products!"

 When I was a teen, my grandmother introduced to me the idea of making stuff for my "hope-chest."  Have you ever heard of this?  It is a super cool custom, or you could even call it a hobby, where-by a young woman prepares or gathers things, household linens (hot-pad) etc, which she expects to someday use when she sets up house-keeping for herself.

Have fun with creativity, kindness, sunshine, and Sonshine.  May you be blessed, and return again!  Sharing with a social icon below can help spread the goodness, and perhaps keep the link convenient for when you want to reference again, maybe because you have some old denim scraps...
Here are some other links to creativity my teen has enjoyed recently:   


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