It's a Creative World

It's Denim again, an easy ipad cover.

I just love recycyling denim and this pair of jeans is special. They came from my cousin who just loved them till they got holes, you know, that kind of pair!

When she passed them over to be recycled I knew I needed to find something to make out of them that she could use everyday. Inspiration came from her in the shape of a recycled denim ipad case. It wa a complicated one and wouldn't have shown of f the lovely embroidery on these so I went for a simple sleeve cover.

I tried sliding the ipad inside the leg aad it fitted so I simply cut the leg off. You might want to lay the ipad on top as well to check where any embriodery would fit.  I turned the leg inside out and sewed staight across the cut edge to make a square bag.

I decided to use some fleece (to pad, I had no wadding) and a cotton lining and simply cut the same size as the jeans leg and then sewed round two edges to make a square bag. They all fitted inside the jean bag and I carefully folded the fleece and lining over the edge of the jeans and pinned round. For the toggle loop I used a piece of a seam. This is hard to sew through so I often cut them off but do keep them as they are so useful. I pinned these in place to sew at the same time as fixing the bags together with two rows of stiching near the edge of the ling.

I looked for a button but the toggle looked so much better, I was worried that the loop was too big and cured this by zigzaging the off cut seam together (you can just see the black stitching in the middle above). The finial toucches were to sew the toggle on and a couple of stab stictches through the seam at the bottom to hold all the layers in place.

The finished product! It is not quite square due to the taper of the leg but I'm happy with it and and so easy with just 6 rows of stitching. The fleece has made it nice and padded and will protect the ipad well.

I did try to take a picture with the iPad in it and then remembered that was how I was taking my photso! Opps!

Have a go and see what you can create.

Happy sewing

Bev

 

 

Reuse, recycle - Denim aprons

It's wonderful to be back! It seemed appropriate to do a post about new life on Easter Sunday.

We have so many pairs of jeans that have been either grown out of or are worn (normally the knees!) that I wanted to find a way to use them. I started by googling denim and had a good look at the images, Pinterest was also a great source of inspiration and allowed me to "pin" the designs I liked. I'm obviously not the only one who's loves this fabric and wanted to get a bit more out of it, there were thousands of ideas and I settled on aprons.

This was my first attempt, it used one leg of my husbands jeans (the one without the hole!), split it up one seam and I bound it (pretty badly) with a bit of gingham I had hanging around the place. For decoration I added some lace and I made a quick rosette style flower. The strap for the neck is the button edging off an old maternity dress and the waist ties literally the ties from the same dress. I learnt something there though - the buttons get caught in your hair.. Opps! Also I needed to adjust the length of the strap. It's also not very wide so that need to be changed for adults.

 

Design 2  After a little more research I saw that you could split the legs of the jeans and sew them into one panel. It really is very easy, split the crotch and overlap oneside over the other and sew it together, a bit like the denim skirts that were popular a few years ago.  I decided to use the back of the jeans to utilse the pockets already there. I drew round a favourite cooking apron to make a newspaper pattern for the top bib shape. I then cut 2 squares from the front of a leg sewed them together to make a larger square for the bib top. Jeans with nice logos can be used and make an additional feature. This time the waist strap was just blue spotty cotton and I liked the idea of using the belt loops, already in place - wonderful. The neck strap,  I changed from the last design and used a seam cut both sides and velcro allow it to be altered. I like apron straps to be tied in the front so I made them long, tying in the front is just so much easier.

 

This one again uses the back but in a different colour denim looks fantastic. Again I changed the neck strap and found a d-ring was perfect. I went with green spots for my Mother-outlaw and tried a different kind of ruffle across the top. The beauty is you can add as many additional accessories as you want - buttons, bows, ribbons or lace or just plain.

 

My children were then after aprons for their crafting and cooking. My son loves inking and less splashes on clothes sounded good but I didn't want his to look so skirt like. What's nice is as with everyting home made you can start a project and tweak it for the person you are making it for. We cut the jeans into pieces and realised that 2 legs wide would wrap it round his waist a bit more. We split the legas and sewed them all together. We used the front of the jeans for the bib. Grey webbing for the straps gave  it a more masculine feel. It is now great for ink, woodwork and gardening, super!

 

 For girls you can go mad and my daughters is just a little sweet and cutesy but she choose the strap fabric - cupcakes, buttons, heart ribbon and loves it!

Do have a go, you really only need an old pair of jeans, sewing machine and some imagination!

Hapy Easter to you all

Bev