Holey-Knee-ed Jeans

What do you do with jeans that have holes in the knees? I am not one for throwing things away - especially things that "might come in handy one day."

Recently, like in the past 2 years, I have taken to collecting all the jeans that have become embarrassing to wear in public. If I could somehow get my act together I could keep the receipts, and then find them when the holes appear, and take the jeans back and get a new pair. But that doesn't happen. So I have a stash of jeans waiting for that day aforementioned. :)

I have ideas in my head - handbags, cushions. Even a curtain (I saw one made out of jeans at a Just Jeans store).

Well, finally one of those aforementioned days arrived. Last night. I need a little bag to put my water bottle, purse and tissues (at least) into so I decided to whip one up. I chose a pair of black cargo-ish pants that used to be Reuben's, from a bag of jeans that smell a bit festy from being stored in a plastic bag in a removalist box for at least 6 months! (I knew exactly where they were.)

Here's what I did...
I cut off two pockets and sewed them together.
Then, I thought "Oh, I could decorate this. Shoulda done that before I sewed them together!"
Then I decorated it a little bit with some Fancy Pants felt. Definitely shoulda done it before I sewed them together!
I cut out the strap from the inner leg seam - from the hem on one side up over the crutch and down the other side. It's just long enough.
This was after I decided that one piece of silk ribbon wouldn't be enough.
So I sewed the silk ribbon to the black innerleg strap.
Just as an aside... When I was sewing the strap it reminded me of rolling your own cigarettes! Why? How? Well I had to tuck the hairy fibres of the silk inside the strap so that they didn't get sewn into the seam and believe it or not, I have rolled a cigarette. For my grandfather. When I was about 7 or 8 years old. And it reminded me of that! BTW I have never ever smoked in my life.
Back to the bag...
I sewed the strap on and
Voila!


I had to wash the bag cos it was a bit stinky so here it is hanging on the line and you can see one side of it. Below is a closer up look at the other side.



I made the bag so that it can be turned inside out and the pockets would be in the inside (and the decorations!) which could add a bit of security if needed. Should be just the thing for The Cat Empire concert I'm going to tonight.

Another aside... I can whip up something with a sewing machine without one bit of agonising. Mistakes 'n' all. Easy. But come to scrapbooking or art journalling and it is a different story altogether. I have to keep saying "No agonising. No agonising. No agonising."

So there you go.