7th +Denim Project All from 1 Pair of Jeans

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Finally!
I sat at my sewing machine and finished my denim projects!  

First of all, I decided that I wanted to make a zippered pouch that can be used for holding school supplies or as a make-up bag, or whatever you would like to use a zippered pouch for.  I have never made one and didn't have a pattern, so I just thought about it and figured out in my head how to make it work.  Then, I decided to add some color to it and line it with vinyl to make it easy to clean. 
​ Click on the pictures to get the directions. 

Supplies:

• 1 piece of denim from an old pair of jeans that is about 10 inches wide and 16 inches long
• 1-9 inch zipper in whatever color you prefer
• 1 piece of clear vinyl cut just slightly smaller in length than the denim
• Trim for whatever look you would like.  I used rick-rack
• A sewing machine, pins and thread
• scissors

Start with your denim rectangle and trim it so the edges are fairly straight.

You will also be using trims and a zipper. Be sure everything fits across the size of the denim.

On each end of the denim, iron about a 1/2 inch hem towards the inside.

Pin and sew on your trim. Measure where you place it so that it will match and look the same on both sides. Or, not if you don't want it to match.

Folded in half, the finished bag will look like this. Open the fabric back out and Sew on the trim and remove the pins.

Lay the vinyl on the inside of the denim, tucking the ends under the folded over hem.

Place the zipper under the folded over hem and pin it in place on one side. Be sure to catch the vinyl into the seam.

Use a zipper foot to stitch down the top of the bag to the zipper.

Now, pin the other side of the zipper in place and open the zipper so that you can stitch that side in place. You may need to finagle the end a bit as you finish.

  After the zipper is sewn in, you will need to turn the bag inside out and sew up both of the side seams.  The seams will be pretty wide because you have to take in the ends of the zipper.  Here is a picture with lines on it showing where you will be sewing when it is flipped. 

Do you see those black lines at the ends of the zipper? When you flip the bag to sew it, you will be sewing that far over.

  Flip the bag and sew the seams, then trim the seams to about 1/4 inch.   Now flip the bag back, unless you want to do like I did and sew about an inch down on the seam line to make the bag have a wider bottom.  It is the same process that I used on the denim basket only smaller, you can check it out here. 

Here is the finished bag! Pretty cute I think!

I love that pop of green with the pink! I think this would make a great gift for a girl starting out with make-up or facial care items, or filled with pens, pencils and school supplies.

   Speaking of gift giving, I couldn't finish making these projects without making this cute gnome ornament.  I've wanted to try my hand at making a gnome for a long time now, and this was the perfect opportunity.  I still have some of my jean's denim left, so I could easily whip out a few of these to give tied onto Christmas packages.  I had all of the supplies on hand and this worked up so quickly.  Here is how I did it.  You can totally just glue the entire thing together or take a few stitches like I did. 

Supplies:

• Cone shaped piece of denim.  You can decide what size you want your gnome to be.  My cone was about 6 inches across the curved bottom and 5 1/2 inches up to the point. 
• Needle and thread or a hot glue gun
• Embroidery floss an needle
• 2 pom poms, 1 large, 1 small
• a bit of fiber fill
• a wooden bead for the nose
• White glue or hot glue

Begin with a triangle of denim that is rounded on the bottom.

Fold one side over, creating a point at the top. I put in a stitch to hold it.

Using a large pom pom to measure how far to fold, fold around the other side and hold in place with a few hidden stitches.

I decided to make my gnome festive by crocheting leaves down the seam. Here is a tip! Stick your scissors inside the gnome hat to act as a guard against accidentally grabbing the other side of the hat.

Use embroidery floss to make little leaves down the seam line.

Fold the top of the hat over and add a small pom pom. I loved how this white and green one coordinated with the stitching.

Shove some fiber fill in the hat for dimension. Don't over fill. Leave room for the pom pom.

Finally, glue the large pom pom and the wooden ball nose in place. Allow to dry. My glue was still wet when I took this photo. I couldn't wait.

  Sorry about my glue showing, it will be clear when it dries.  
Add some floss through the fold in the hat to make a hanger and there you have it, an adorable gnome made from your old blue jeans!  

I'll share another picture on Instagram or Facebook of him when the glue is dry!

If you missed any of the other denim projects, here you go: 
#1-Jeans Basket
​#2-Kindle Reading Pillow
#3-Tee Shirt and Jeans Pillow
​#4-Patchwork Quilted Hot Pad 
#5-Jeans Pocket Purse/Giftbag
​#6-Embroidery Wall Art