Recycled Denim Basket

By Lynda Kanase

In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to create something that involved recycling {instead of upcycling or repurposing} so I dug through my stash of supplies for an idea. I love reusing fabric so I found a pair of old jeans that I had saved and decided to recycle the denim.

Upcycled_denim_basketI made a lined denim basket with their original pockets intact. Usually when clothes are damaged or stained they end up in the trash. I wanted to recycle the usable parts of the denim to save them from the landfill.

1SuppliesI started by cutting all of the seams off of a pair of worn jeans. This left me with some nice flat pieces of denim to work with. I used a Sizzix Square, 8″ Finished Die and cut five squares of denim, five squares of lightweight cotton fabric for the lining and five squares of medium batting. You can hand-cut other sizes but it was so easy and precise to use the die.2SewingNext sew a 1/4″ seam along the side of one denim square to the next with right sides together until four squares are sewn together creating an open cube. Pin the fifth square to the bottom with right sides together and sew the bottom of the cube. For the lining, pin the wrong side of the cotton lining to the batting. Next, pin the right side of the cotton lining/batting to the next cotton lining/batting square and sew with a 1/4″ seam. Repeat until four squares of cotton lining/batting are sewn together to create an open cube. Pin and sew the right side of the cotton lining/batting square to the right sides of the open cube. This should now look similar to the denim cube as shown above.

3construct
Place the denim cube inside the cotton lining/batting cube with right sides together. Pin the two cubes together along the top edges. Sew a 1/4″ seam along the edges leaving a 3″ opening to turn the piece. Upcycle_denim_cubeFinish the piece by stitching along the top edge of the denim basket. Besides being a great way to recycle old denim, this would also make a practical Mother’s Day gift for any mom that likes handmade, recycled storage pieces.

PRODUCT LINK
Sizzix Square, 8″ Finished (8-1/2″ Unfinished)
Sizzix_Square

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About Lynda Kanase

Founder and Chief Designer of i-crafter Creative Products and current Crafter, Maker, Stitcher, Scrapper, Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Instructor, Anglophile, Dog lover and Mom trying to make the world prettier, one project at a time. Please join me on this creative adventure.

36 Responses

  3. Amy Betts

    What a great idea! I have a huge pile of cut up old jeans that I plan on turning into a quilt; however, I know I have plenty, so I may have to try this basket out of some of them, too!

    Like

  11. Jann Olson

    Oh gosh, this is so cute!! I have used old levi’s in quilts and aprons, but never a basket. Love it! Thanks for sharing the tutorial with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

    Like

  12. Judie Harron

    Just stopped by to thank you for sharing your denim basket tutorial. I made two of them for Earth Day projects with a pair of recycled jeans. I can always use more storage in my sewing studio…would love to attach a photo but couldn’t figure out how to do that. Keep on sewing…love your ideas!

    Like

  16. mixedkreation

    How cute! I have a bunch of cargo pants from work I wonder if I could do something like this. I’ve been saving them not wanting to throw away, but not sure what to do with them. I would love to have a blue jean quilt but I’m not motivated enough to make one. Thanks for sharing your cute basket. Pinning!

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    1. Lynda

      Hi! This would work perfectly for cargo pants. These baskets are so simple to make and the cargo pants fabric would be a great texture. Thanks for visiting.

      Like

  18. Krista

    This is so creative. I noticed it when I was passing though looking for something else and had to come back and find it. I am looking forward to trying this. I think it came out really cute.

    Like

    1. Lynda

      Hi Krista. Thank you for coming back and visiting. So glad you left a comment. Thank you for the nice comment and I hope you try this denim basket. It is exceptionally easy to make. Enjoy!

      Like

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