Congrats to yesterday’s winner, Sally Decker, on winning Day 2’s daily giveaway! We will be in contact so that you can claim your prize.
It’s Day Three of National Sewing Month! Don’t forget to visit Seams and Scissors every day to find daily giveaway opportunities and sewing ideas! To enter today’s daily giveaway, find the contest rules and leave a comment below. Also look out below for details on how to enter our National Sewing Month grand prize that includes a BERNINA 215 Sewing Machine! Too see the daily blog posts, projects of the day, and more National Sewing Month details, click here.
Today’s National Sewing Month post is brought to you by Pam from Threading My Way!


- offset seams
- open seams to neaten the edges
- twist the direction of a seam
- zig zag or overlock (surge), instead of turning a hem twice
Use a jeans foot, if one is made for your machine. They are designed to help sew over thick layers.
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Needle case tutorial ~ Passion et Couture |
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Jeans pocket cushion tutorial ~ Threading My Way |
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Pocketed drawstring backpack tutorial ~ Sewing for Utange |
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Jeans textile cuff tutorial ~ Passion et Couture |
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Jeans gift bag tutorial ~ Creating My Way to Success |
Fabric Yarn – Thin strips of denim, cut from the legs of jeans, can be used as yarn. Sew the strips together and roll into balls, ready to use in weaving and crochet projects. You could even use them instead of ribbon when wrapping gifts.
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Woven jeans coasters tutorial ~ Green Issues by Agy |
Make a loom from cardboard and start weaving with jeans yarn and cotton thread to make coasters.
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Woven denim basket tutorial ~ Ohoh Blog |
Or weave a larger project entirely using jeans yarn. Choose two different coloured pairs of jeans for a variegated effect.
Labels – even the brand label can be used to good effect. If you’re lucky enough, you may find jeans with a leather or faux leather label.
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Jeans cell phone case tutorial ~ Passion et Couture |
In this case, the label has been utilised as a belt holder on a cell phone case. Being small, the cell phone case only needs small pieces of denim and fabric.
Small Denim Scraps – Even the smallest pieces of denim fabric can be put to good use.
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Embroidered coasters tutorial ~ Joy’s Jots, Shots & Whatnots |
Add some embroidery to small pieces of denim fabric and you have a set of coasters. These coasters have been embroidered with a machine, but with a little imagination, you could also hand stitch designs or maybe decorate with fabric paint.
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iPod keychain case tutorial ~ Creating My Way to Success |
Make a small zippered pouch for your iPod and attach it to your keychain. Little pouches such as these could be used for many different things.
Legs – The largest pieces of fabric can be harvested from the legs of jeans.
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Draught excluder tutorial ~ Celtic Thistle Stitches |
A draught excluder can be sewn from just one leg. I suppose you could leave the denim as is, but why not add some appliqué to add character.
Refashioning – When refashioning, one garment is usually turned into another, in most cases keeping some of the original elements.
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Overalls to dress refashion tutorial ~ Sews n Bows |
All parts of the overalls have been kept in this refashion, with the exception of the legs. Add a skirt to the overalls and in 20 minutes, your little one has a new outfit.
Embellishing Jeans – Contrasting colours work extremely well with denim, which makes them very easy to embellish, using stitching, fabric paint or even a sharpie pen.
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Camera case tutorial ~ Gina’s Craft Corner |
Use a sharpie to create a design on left over scraps of jeans. Add some contrasting fabric, sew them together and you have a case to protect your camera.
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Tattooed denim jacket ~ Second Chances by Susan |
Although technically not a sewing project, I had to include this tattooed denim jacket, to show you what can be done with creativity and imagination. A sharpie marker, glue and dye were used to turn a plain, white, denim jacket, into a work of art.
For more jeans repurposing ideas and inspiration, head on over to Pinterest.
- Jeans Upcycling
- Denim Recycled
- RRU Denim Jeans
- Denim Refashion Ideas
- Denim-Blue, Jeans Reuse, Refashion
- Upcycled & Refashioned Denim
- Jeans, denim, recycled, refashion
- Upcycled Denim Jeans
So, what are you waiting for? Grab a pair of pre-loved jeans and start repurposing.
Be sure to see all of Pam’s projects on Threading My Way!
Also remember to check out the Project of the Day right here!
To enter the daily giveaway to win a Simplicity Swag Box, leave a comment below telling us:
Do you have jeans that don’t fit anymore that you refuse to throw out?
Official Rules for Daily Contest
- There is a maximum of one entry per person. The entry will be based upon a comment left on this blog post. Duplicate comments will be deleted and are not tallied.
- Winner will be selected at random from the comments on this blog post below.
- You have until tonight, September 3rd, 2014 at 11:59p EST to leave your comment on this post. Comments posted after that will not be counted.
- Contest open to anyone 18+ in US and/or Canada.
Enter here for the National Sewing Month 2014 Grand Prize Giveaway.
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- Fashion by the Decade: 53 Vintage Sewing Patterns - August 10, 2022