How to Make a Blue Jean Bag

Wondering what to do with those ratty jeans? Most people throw away their worn out blue jeans because they don’t know what else to do with them besides cut them and wear them as shorts around the house. The legs of blue jeans may wear out but the top part still has strong seams allowing for re-purposing.

Here is a simple way to turn thoroughly used jeans into a functional bag that can be used as a purse, for books, or even to carry craft materials in.

What you will need:

Scissors

Iron

Sewing marker

Thread

Denim sewing needle

Instructions:

1) 1) Turn the jeans inside out and mark them for cutting about 2 inches below the crotch. Cut off the legs.

2) 2) Sew the leg openings closed with two or three rows of straight stitches. Turn the jeans right side out and press.

3) 3) For a handle, cut a 3 in wide strip from one of the leftover legs. Crease, stitch on the wrong side then turn right side out. You can also use colorful fabric or heavy ribbon to make the shoulder strap or to add a drawstring.

4) 4) Sew ½ inch of the handle to the waistband of the jeans at both sides. Use a cross stitch for extra strength. The bag is finished.

Additional Suggestions:

To turn the bag into a children’s backpack, first measure for the straps. Hold the bag to your child’s back and loop the tape measure from the top of the bag over the child’s shoulders and under their arms to the bottom of the bag. Allow for an additional 3 inches so that the strips can be cross stitched inside the bags waistband and to the bottom of the back pockets. Rip open a few stitches of the back pockets and tuck the straps inside then sew into place.

The bag can be decorated with an assortment of available fabric paints, iron-ons, or sewn or glued rhinestones.

This is a simple project that can be done in a day by yourself or over the course of a weekend when teaching sewing basics to a child or teenager. The bag is versatile and heavy duty while being a nice option to making cut-off shorts or outright throwing away those used jeans.