Ideas for Recycling Denim

Practically everyone in America wears denim clothing. First introduced by Levi Strauss during the California Gold Rush in the late 1800s, denim pants or "jeans" have become a wardrobe staple. My husband owns only one pair of pants that are not jeans. My children wear jeans almost every day to school and I wear them any time I can.

If one is not studious about cleaning out closets, old jeans can pile up fast. Children outgrow them, men wear them out and women lose interest in the style or size, leading to a need to get rid of them sometime.

Here are several ideas for how to recycle your old jeans:

Make something else out of them

First, as I have been a stay at home mom, I generally try to make shorts out of anything that has holes in the knees. I save the pants leg for use as other projects. I do this for all of my jeans that are not too tight and for my kids clothes as this will sometimes get us through another season wearing the same clothes.

I have made Christmas stockings out of used denim pants for every member of my family including in-laws. So now my whole family has the same style of Christmas stocking when we all get together. To do this, I simply cut the legs off of the jeans and found 2 sections good enough to cut mirror image stocking shapes. I then turned them inside out and stitched them together. I decorated the tops with a band of Christmas material but I could have left the tops plain and allowed them to fray as denim will.

You could also use leftover denim to make pillows for your couch, sew pieces together to make a comforter for a bed and I have even made a curtain valance by sewing together a number of pieces. I would like to actually cover my entire couch but I am not sure I am up for it. The point being that I love denim, I hate to throw it out and I really enjoy finding other uses for things in my house. My motto is, "Use it for at least two different purposes if you can!"

Patch Them

My husband used to be a contractor and would generally wear the front of his jeans completely out from hip to knee. Since he was doing hard labor and was covered in dirt and other construction materials, his appearance wasn't all that important. So, because we were always short on money, I learned to add an additional panel to the front section of his jeans on my sewing machine. I would do this by cutting a panel of good denim off of one pair of ruined pants and stitching it to the front thigh section of another pair of ruined pants. This ensured that he could wear at least one pair out of two for another several months.

Donate Them

Give them to a charity resale shop such as Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul or the Salvation Army. There are many resale stores which are always in need of fresh goods to sell in their stores or support clients living in shelters. In fact, this is a great place to get jeans, especially for women. Over the years, I have purchased many pairs of used jeans for less than $7 because some other woman didn't like them. Most often the women's clothing is in good shape and is given away because it did not fit right as women tend to buy things they don't need on impulse.

Children's clothes are harder to find at thrift shops and men's jeans are nearly impossible to find since men tend to stick with one type or brand and then wear them until they are worn out. This makes these items much more in demand, but if you shop at thrift shops regularly you will occasionally luck out.

Sell Them

Some cities have people who pay for used jeans, especially brand names like Levi. You can also sell them at a garage sale or consignment store though I think this is a lot of work....but then, I am not much of a garage seller.