Blue Jeans Gift Bag

So many people talk about finding the perfect guy, and that's great and all...but what about finding the perfect pair of jeans? You know that pair of jeans that you put on and instantly feel like you could conquer the world, your sassy levels skyrocket, and you just feel awesome?

Yea well mine died.

I had my beloved "Rockstar" jeans as I called them for five years and I would almost bet my mom washed them at a bare minimum every other week, sometimes probably more.  I wore them all the time.  They fit me through my lowest weights of those years and they fit me in the higher weights (just maybe not as well..).  In some circumstances, they were my Traveling Pants.  Literally, they got a Bachelor's degree with me and made it through the first semester of my Master's degree.

But you can't turn back time and you can't patch a hole when the entire rest of the material around it is completely threadbare.  The hips were starting to thread through, the legs were, and it was just futile.  With my mind completely set against throwing them away, I sought out other things I could do with them.

They were too threadbare to do a skirt, sadly, but I did end up making bags out of them.  I think this one is particularly cute, so though I have posted this once for a different style bag I will do this one as well.

All I did was essentially cut the jeans from the top down on each side of the zipper and cut them across right below the back pockets.  This gave me two sections of jeans to work with, in which I simply only had to sew one side and the bottom.  The top kept its beautiful waistband, the other side kept its professional hem, and Jenna had to sew less.

Which if anyone knows my sewing skills or complete lack thereof, knows that is a good thing.  I have that fancy Singer now in the background, but sadly I have still managed to find ways to screw up most projects...I really should stick to baking and food.

Anyway, I had cut the thick seams out as close as I could on each side to use as straps on some of the bags.  For this little bag, however, I laced the seam through the belt loops and tied it to pull the top together.

You can easily put a gift card in the front pocket, fun stuff in the back pocket, something bigger in the main part of the bag, and come up with a really fun gift in an innovative and very eco-friendly bag. 

This bag is going in my craft studio, however, because it has the precious and most favorite patch I have ever had on a pair of jeans and so I want to reuse it for my very black and white crafty space.  And I always need more organizational things.

So if you just have a pair of jeans that you can't give away because no one else could wear them and they have seen their better days, think about bags! It is a fun way to remember them and pass the fun along to others.

Happy crafting!