Sunday, April 15, 2012

Jeans Remade Into Grocery Bags

About 2 years ago a friend gave me about 11 pairs of jeans that he and his son were no longer wearing.  They sat around and then I made 3 really nice purses for 3 friends of my daughter Mary as thank you gifts for their help with her wedding.  I made a few pairs of jeans for my grandkids out of more pairs of them and had about 6 pairs left along with 3 that I outgrew.  They continue to stare at me every time I open the closet door.

I determined that this weekend I would make market bags from them.  The grocery bags I have been using that were purchased from various stores are starting to wear out There was no rhyme or reason to the jean bags....just started cutting and sewing not even caring about thread matching, etc.  The ecru colored purse is from the same pair of pants I used to make the cargo pants for Canaan a few weeks ago.

Added Cloth Belt to this one to spruce it up
Love the detail on the pockets on this one!
My first attempt at a rectangle bag....the one in the tutorial below came out better.
My favorite one......
Then, Jerry said he wanted to help me make one that would be the same size as my favorite Trader Joe's bag.  I didn't have my camera out and he said....well, aren't you going to take pictures?...so I did!
I took pictures to make a semi-tutorial....Hope it is not too confusing.
 This is the pair of jeans before we started cutting.
 Jerry is pointing to approximately where we did the first cut.  We cut pieces off of each pants leg. 
We then cut each piece long enough to match the height of the Trader Joe's bag.
When I cut down the center of the leg pieces of the jeans they would flare like a skirt.  Jerry used the Framing-square to make straight edges on the two leg pieces.
I sewed two of the edges together and then sewed the other two edges together.
Jerry uses the L-square to cut out the rectangle shaped bottom piece.
 I then sewed the bottom piece to the top piece and used the waistband to make the straps. In picture above the side seams are the two seams of the top piece.  
 This is the back of the bag...sewed the straps down to be a little creative:):)
A close up of my "creativeness"....:)
I used a back pocket from the pair of jeans to sew over a hole on the front side of this very cute grocery bag!!!!!

Time to go to the store!

11 comments:

  1. Great job! I love the man's touch of using a square!! I'd be carrying those bags proudly, they are fantastic.

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  2. What a great job - I have made a bag from a denim dress but not jeans yet!

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  3. Hi Jerry and Kay: I'm Connie at http://hotflashncraftn.blogspot.com/, your new GF friend. I would love it if you stop by and be my friend too.
    This is a great idea for old jeans. And they are so cute.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Dad, you're a great hand model! ;-)
    Mom, I love these bags!

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  5. This is a great way to repurpose jeans. I actually have a pair that I thought would be perfect for a bag. Now I just need to make it. Thanks for the motivation. Thanks for sharing at Terrific Tuesdays.
    Rachel
    adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com

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  6. Oooh! Clever! I love the belt you added too. Thanks for linking up!
    ~Natalie

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  7. This is such an amazing idea!

    PS: I look forward to seeing you this week at Show Me What You Got Tuesday's @ ODH via: http://ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com/2012/04/live-linky-party-11.html

    Mrs. Delightful
    www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com

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  8. Thats soooooo coool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

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  9. Hello dear Kay, this is so beautiful!!! And what a great idea, will keep it in mind before throwing the next old jeans out :-).
    somehow your blog posts don't appear anymore in my gfc so decided to come over and see if you are ok. Looks like it, i am happy!
    hugs to you
    Jutta

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  10. A great way to reuse old jeans!!! All of the bags are fabulous, but I especially like the first one with the belt. I have some 'skinny' jeans in the wardrobe that I know will never fit me. I should dig them out.

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  11. Love your grocery bags - and made from denim, they should last a LONG time!! Brilliant idea!

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I would love to hear your comments!