Simple Jeanius #4- Bloomin' Sweet DenimRing

I have this little ring. It's cute and sweet and so so comfy to wear and I love it. :) This ring builds off of two previous tutorials, the necklace and the cuff. In the necklace tutorial I demo'd how to make a ring out of a piece of inseam. The cuff tutorial shows you how to cut the little flower shapes out of the denim jean fabric. This ring tutorial is sort of a mini tutorial because it really doesn't take much time or many steps to put one of these together. Especially if you already have the ring and fabric flowers cut. I'm going to post a sneak peek of next week's bag project at the bottom of this post. Have a great weekend and why not take a couple of minutes to sit back, grab some coffee, and enjoy the tutorial!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bloomin' Sweet Flower Jeans Ring- Tutorial
Tools and Materials
Ring form made from inseam of a pair of old jeans
Flower shapes cut from a piece of old jean denim
Red bead or button
Embroidery floss in dark blue
Needle and Scissors

Step One: Following the steps in Tutorial #3- denim necklace, cut a thin piece of stitched inseam from a pair of jeans and fitting it around your finger for size, stitch closed.

Step Two: Time to layer the blooms. For more dimension I cut a super small square little piece of inseam from my old jeans and placed this between the two blooms I had cut out previously.






Step Three: Using a needle and thread knotted on one end I stitched up from the back of my little stack, through the layers and then back on down. Repeat a couple of times and then add the little bead or button on top and stitch through that and back down.

Step Four: Then placing the bloom where desired on top of ring (I put mine slightly off to the side of the ring's seam so the blooms didn't stick out quite as much), stitch through top of ring form and then back up and through the bottom layer of the bloom. Repeat a few times, slightly varying where you stitch through the bottom of the flower and where you stitch to the ring so that it's as
secure as possible. Then slip it on and enjoy!


---------------------------------------------------------------

And here's the little sneak peek I promised- coming soon as a tutorial ! Happy Weekend Everyone!!! :)

Simple Jeanius #3- Denim Delight Necklace Tutorial

Everything goes with jeans, right? This denim necklace takes that a step further as not only does it go with anything but it really makes the outfit as well. Simple, artsy, and comfortable it really is a delight to wear. I love how it looks paired with my new denim cuff and a sweater vest. Again, super simple to make, I used only some embroidery floss and strips cut from my painter's jeans. After this project which uses much of the pant legs, I have to admit the jeans have started to look pretty worked over. Still, I've the fabric from one more pant leg, a couple of pockets, and a waste band left to play with, and this is where the challenge starts to get really interesting. :) Tomorrow- the cutest little denim ring EVER. Of course it's the only denim ring I've ever seen so I have to admit the competition isn't that stiff. Still- I'm sticking with it, because it is seriously the cutest denim ring EVER!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Denim Delight Necklace Tutorial
Tools and Materials
Old pair of paint splattered and worn out jeans (boot cut)
2 skeins Embroidery floss in dark and light blues
Needle
Scissors

Step One: Cut along the inseam of one of the pant leg you should have left yet after the other tutorials. Cut as long as a strip as you can and trim as close to the seam as possible. Then cut this strip into pieces approx. 4 inches in length. I cut 10 strips to create the rings for my chain.

Step Two: Create a ring form from the strips by overlapping the ends just slightly and then stitching it closed with your dark blue embroidery floss by first piercing and then stitching around the edges of the two pieces. Once securely joined, set aside and repeat with all your loops.

Step Three: Next, from the front or back fabric of the jeans cut several strips approx. 3/4inch in width and as long as you can. Cut these strips down into pieces that are approx. 4 inches long. Make 12-14 of these. I made more of these then I did the strips that were cut from the inseam because I ran out of inseam. To make the necklace the length I wanted I stopped alternating the two different rings and added extra of these plain fabric strips from step three. The finished length of the necklace is up to you- mine is 34" in length.

Step Four: Knot the end of a piece of the light blue floss and starting at one end of a strip, straight stitch up the middle until you reach the end. Leave about 2-3 inches excess floss hanging. Repeat with all your fabric strips.

Step Five: Now you're ready to begin building your chain. To do this, pick up one of the fabric strips and thread two of the closed denim loops onto it. Then wrap up end up and around and use the excess floss stitch close your strip to form a ring as you did in step two with the inseam pieces. Repeat this step until you've run out of rings or strips, or until the necklace is the length you desire.

Step Six: For a closure you have a couple of options, you can simply connect the two ends to create a closed chain or you can use something else to join them, like a strip of ribbon. Because of the parameters I set originally for the challenge I decided to join the two ends with another strip of jean fabric.
************************************************
Tied together with this cute little bow it really does make a "oh so casually cool" sort of statement. Have you tried making fabric jewelry yet? It's so very very much fun and I hope I've inspired you with this little series of tutorials to look at your old jeans in a new light. Have a happy creating day and thanks for your time! :)

Simple Jeanius #1: Repurposing Your Old Jeans into a Denim Headscarf Tutorial

Early Spring is a great time for forcing some growth in our lives. This week I've done that in two ways- first, I brought in some lovely forsythia branches and put them in a vase of warm water. It's so encouraging to see those bare branches break into a glorious bloom over the course of a few days. In gardening terms, that is forcing growth. In our lives, forcing growth can be accomplished through challenges we set for ourselves, calls for submissions that we decide to meet, or a new class we take. There are many ways, and I actually have a chapter devoted to this in my book. This week, I've been thinking about a pair of painting jeans that I love, but are worn through in MANY different places and since I had another I didn't feel like patching these. I love denim and especially like the random splatters and swipes of paint that "decorate" the jeans I wear when creating art, so throwing them out was NOT an option. Instead, they've become the beginning point for a challenge. I've found that challenges work best if there are some parameters, so I limited myself to the single pair of jeans, some embroidery floss, and an assortment of old buttons. It's been fun and I can't wait to share pics of all the goodies I've made with you. SO I hope you enjoy the first project AND I'm hoping maybe this will get you to reconsider throwing away your next pair of worn out jeans. :)

------------------------------------------------------------
Repurposed Painting Jeans Tutorial #1- Floral Headscarf

Tools and Materials
One pair of old painting jeans (mine are bootcut)
1-2 Embroidery Floss in denim and light blue
Assortment of old buttons
Needle
Scissors

Step One: Begin at bottom of pant leg. Cut just to side of the outer seam about 11 inches. Then measure about 11 inches across at bottom of pant leg and cut from point to point to create a triangle. Set aside. Then, cut jeans along pant seam again to get a strip that is approx. 15 inches in length and about 1 1/2 inches in width. Pull strings at edges to accentuate fray, if desired.

Step Two: Cut a strip from jeans that is about 12 inches long and 2 inches wide. Make small cut in and then tear in half width wise to form two strips that are 12" x 1" in size. These will be the tie strings for the head scarf.

Step Three: Cut some denim from the leg of your pants to use for the flowers. Then free cut a small flower that is approx. 1 1/2" in diameter and use that as a template to cut about 8 more. Then cut 2-3 that are 2" in diameter and about 9 that are about 1" in diameter. Finally cut about 4 that are approx. 3/4" in diameter. It makes the cutting process easier if you stack your pieces of fabric and cut several at one time. Really you can cut as many of these that are any size or shape that you want, but these are the approximates of what I did. Set blooms aside.

Step Four: Using embroidery floss and a needle, hand stitch the 15" strip that
you cut in step one to the raw edge across the length of the triangle. You can straight stitch or create a decorative stitch like the cross stitch I'm making at left.

Step Five: Then bend over the end of the strips you made in step 2 about an inch and stitch one to each side of your scarf to create the ties. Doubling over the fabric like this before you stitch it to the end just adds a little more thickness and strength to the connection point. Stitch securely to end using embroidery floss and needle, going over your stitches as many times as necessary for a strong hold.

Step Six: Stack different sizes of your cut flowers and position on headscarf as desired. I'll often make little adjustments in placement or size of the bloom and then take a photo of the layout before stitching the blooms in place. That way I have a handy dandy little reference to look back at in case the blooms don't seem to fit as well as I sew them on individually.

Step Seven: Select buttons for the center of each bloom and then remove all flowers carefully to side. Place one in position on scarf, and then using floss and a needle come up from underside of floss and go up and through the layers of flowers, through the button, and then back down. Repeat a couple of times before knotting off on underside. Continue to stitch on flowers until all blooms are secure fastened in place.

All Done! Now put it on and show off your handiwork- I'm sure it looks great and you look fabulous!

*************************************************
P.S.-I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and stay tune for more jeans tutorials (I've got a cuff and necklace done and am working on a few more- all from the same pair of jeans)! Gotta love that!