Introduction: Jeans Fabric Recycling - "utensilo" Plus Bonus Reading Pillow

By
About: From Southwest germany, sewing mom

i wanted to create something new useful from some old jeans pants that no longer fit or were broken. But there was so much fabric that it was enough for two "UTENSILO" aka storage fabric to hang on the wall and a reading pillow.


One "UTENSILO" in simple style, and one with embroidered decorations for a friend.


Note: I translated the text from german with deepl online, because my school english is a bit rusty ;-) 

Supplies

old jeans fabric

Reinforcing Fleece

Pins / Clips

hanger rings 

paper + pen/pencil

sewing machine + thread

iron and ironing board 

Step 1: First "deconstruction"

unravel the jeans and remove the pockets (but keep them) 

Step 2: Cutting

cut the front and back fabric and the fleece to the size you want and test fit the pockets.


Step 3: Wand Holder

to hang the "UTENSILO" on the wall, cut from rectangular denim from the legs of pants. (for my example 15 x 7 cm)   

fold along the long side and sew together with 1 cm seam allowance to form a tube. Turn and iron.

Then fold the tube in the middle, the hanging ring into the loop and fix with needle or clip.


Step 4: Prepare the Front

position the detached pockets on the front side, and pin them with pins.

If you like the distribution of the pockets, then sew them along the original seam on the front.

Hint: For the variant with embroidery: pre-painted with trick marker and traced with the sewing machine with a triple stitch before sewing the pockets on the front fabric. (see the picture with the paw) 

Step 5: Sew Together

The front and the back are placed together right sides together. Put the fleece on top, fix it with clips or pins.

Important: The wall ring holders must be INSIDE during this step.  

Sew all around, but don't forget the turning opening.

after sewing together turn the whole thing over the reversible opening. Work out the corners (corners can be cut back to the seam. (See picture)

Then iron and topstitch all around just at the edge in the last step. This is also how the turn opening is closed.

Step 6: Variants

These are the two variations I have made. The "simple" simply as a long version all pockets sewn together.

The wide version for my girlfriend with embroidery a little wider to hang behind a door.

Step 7: Bonus - "Reading Pillow"

Then I had so much denim left that I could sew another reading pillow, A reading pillow is like a comic book bone shaped pillow to put on the back of your neck while reading.

Step 8: Supplies "Reading Pillow"

old jeans fabric

Filler wadding

Pins / Clips

paper + pen/pencil

sewing machine + thread

iron and ironing board 

Step 9: Assembling

The pattern (photo) you need 3 times. The markings (red circles) are needed for sewing together

This, I have from the remnants of different pieces of fabric to a patchwork arbitrarily assembled.Decorative seams are of course optional here, and make the pillow more colorful and unique.

Then cut out according to the pattern 3 pieces 

Step 10: Sew It Together

Now place two of the three pieces right sides together and pin each to the center. Mark with a pin where you want to start and stop sewing.

Now that you've sewn half of the two pieces together, fold up the half of the top layer of fabric that hasn't been sewn together yet.

Now you can put the third piece right sides together and sew it once around. Be careful not to sew in the halves that have already been sewn together. Leave a small turning opening at the bottom.

Now the cover is turned over and stuffed with stuffing wool. Close the turning opening with the mattress stitch.


Step 11: Finish

This is my first post here on instructables and always appreciate suggestions. If there are any questions about this project, I'm happy to answer them. 

Greetings from Germany