Whatever happened to those comfy pair of jeans?

I promised you here that one day I'd show you my jean 'collection'. Well, since my sewing machine is given me headaches (not picking up stitches), I thought I'd share the collection instead.

So, whatever did happened to those comfy pair of jeans? Those that I've worn out, I've stashed away in boxes like this:

 Then they are disassembled and stored here and here:

 

And then finally they get made into something usually like this:

A shopping/utility/multi-purpose bag! Personally, I enjoy using them way more than the cheep ones sold at the grocery store. Each bag has it's own personality; I add in drapery fabric from a sample book I was given. They are great to use too because they have the same weight and (usually) texture as the jeans.

This funny hobby originated from my favourite jeans about ten years ago. You know, those pair that are incredibly comfy, you wear them all the time, and then they slowly start to deteriorate and so you add a patch here, and there. Then they rip more, and you hand stitch them there and here, and add another patch to reinforce the old ones too. And then those pants deteriorate so much that one day while doing maintenance work, you hear a RRRIIIIPPPPP, and you know that the only you will wear these pants anymore is with a pair of leggings underneath. (And you do too, because you work at camp, and this is totally acceptable).

But one day, those jeans must retire. And myself, having artfully stitched and patched those pants, couldn't bear to toss them. So instead I cut them up and made my very first jean bag. (The yellow plaid was even the patching material I had used over and over).

And I still use it years later! I have made many more, so many I couldn't take pictures of them all. But every part of the jeans are used. The back pockets are used on the insides, belt loops for decorations, and the waist bands (the most valuable part) are used as the handles. (You always need two pairs of jeans to make one bag...)

The material gets used for the obvious, and even the thick seams of the jeans I will cut out and weave together and make funky bags.

Family and friends started donating their old jeans to me, and now I've made many projects with denim, including a quilt (a gift: Thanks for the picture D.), hot 'plates', coasters and even a computer case (unsuccessfully).

It's a heavy fabric, and can be a pain to sew the thick seams, but I enjoy the results more. And the fact that my old favourite jeans can still be used. That's some great upcycling for ya!

Math revisited...

  "Why will I ever in my life need to know the formula for the circumference of a circle!?!" Little-Squirrel asks.

"Well one day," answers Big-Squirrel from the future, "in the distant future, you will want to make yourself a skirt and that darn formula will help you calculate the waist and the diameter of a whole skirt!" 

Little-Squirrel just rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever."

Guess what? I number-crunched my very own half-circle skirt! It was not as complicated as it sounds, though, I did enjoy math as a kid. I will try to explain without making it too complicated...

I measured my waist (plus 2 inches) for the half-inner circle; only half the circle is my whole waist measurement. And then doubled it to get a whole circle's circumference.

Then using the handy-dandy formula C=2πr, I calculated the radius of the waist and made a small circle with that radius from paper (inner circle in diagram). I folded the small circle in half and decided on the length of the skirt. I measured the length from the edge of the half-circle and drew another larger circle, cut the smaller circle away, and there it was: my very own, made-for-me, pattern.

The waist band was two long rectangles. I attached them to the slightly gathered skirt-waist by sandwiching the skirt between the waist pieces (right sides facing in), stitching, folding them up and hand stitching the top edge (I didn't want any top stitching to show).

I added a lining using the same (but shorter) pattern  out of a lightweight white cotton and inserted an invisible zipper. Hand stitching the hem took awhile because of the rounded edge of the skirt, but I enjoyed several Olympic track events and some swimming.

I am really thrilled about this skirt. It's a nice light weight for the summer and it feels just so great.