25 ways to stop beating dead jeans and use them for something

September 28th, 2007 | Category: DIY

If you have older denim or blue jeans lying around, why not put them to good use instead of donating them or selling to a thrift store? Instead of hopping by to a local Kohl’s or Pottery Barn for Kids outlet, you can form your own denim come alive again in several ways.

Some of the denim transformations will take a little skill, but think of how cool some of these items would be after turning that old pair of Levis into:

Pot holders
Quilts
Backpacks or bags
Purses
Jackets
Even dress that upcoming scarecrow!

There are so many uses to old denim

that it’s tough to list them all. When decorating a scarecrow for my Halloween display final year, I used patches of denim from standard blue jeans plus some old stonewashed jeans to create a jacket for that person made of hay. I’m not certain I’ll venture down that road that year again (but I may go pumpkin crazy), but here’s an view that sounds weird (but can be very comfortable): build a sofa slipcover out of those old jeans! It may take some sewing skill to do that successfully, but the look is very different — particularly whether you use many different colors of jeans.