I started my career in fashion design in San Francisco in 1973 by buying old jeans at thrift stores (for 25 to 65¢ each) for the fabric. I bought mostly Levi's, but they were the most expensive at 65¢, but they made the best clothes. I took out all of the seams from the jeans, except the hip pockets and front watch pockets (which I reused), washed the fabric, and then ironed where the seams had been to achieve a somewhat tie-dyed effect.

To make fabric for a garment, I would cut the pieces into geometric patterns and piece them together by lapping them in an appliqué method, and I triple stitched them together to make strong bonds. I allowed raw edges to fray and make a sort of decorative "fringe" so that the fabric would have more interest.

The clothes I made sold well, and I made new jeans, jackets, vests, and skirts. For the vests, I put the hip pockets in the front with the watch pocket on the upper left front. I used snaps for closure.

By the late 70s, I stopped doing this and had switched to silk and linen. I prewashed all linen that I used so that it would be pre-shrunk and therefore washable. Back then, off the rack linen clothes had to be dry cleaned, but mine were washable.

I did not wear denim as a child, even though I grew up on a farm - I considered jeans to be lower class at that time and what farm workers wore. I did not wear jeans until I was at university, and I stopped wearing jeans in 1995 and have not worn any since then.

Lars, I dont own any real jeans, either. I dont like them. I do have some me made pants in denim. I find jeans to be hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Denim fabric with no nap gets very cold to the touch . When it is worn tight, it is even more hot and cold on the skin.

I think that denim is not as good for many uses that people are applying it to as they want to think it will be. I dont think that it makes a good quilt, throw, or blanket, for instance. It is just not warm/fuzzy/cozy and lacks a napped surface. It also does not drape well and it is heavy when you get that much all sewn together. It is heavy but not in a good way that it will drape around the body with a nice comfort. It wont drape over you like a weighted blanket . It is also very hard to wash if you have a blanket size of sewn together pieces with all the seams. So, I just dont see any advantage to it.

Deconstructed denim seems to have its best as a hand bag or maybe a small pillow, or even some skirts or jackets.

I have seen some textile artists use the fabric as a medium and have produced some extraordinary pieces of art! The many variances in hue and color and tone can make for a vibrant color pallete in the right artistic hands. There is also a value in it as a structural element by using the flat felled seams, the intact pockets, the waistbands in creative ways.

It seems to be popular to try to make skirts by cutting the jeans open and inserting either some rufffled fabric or some pieced panel. It is my opinion taht it most often is not very wearable or attractive.

Reclaimed denim seems to be a wonderful fabric, but I think taht it has it's limits . It is not the best fabric for many things that people are trying to apply it to.

Some have done some extraordinary things with it.

Why is America cutting up so many old denims? Do we really have that much excess and no one needs pants? The best denim is the one that is still all cotton. So many jeans now are not and they will not behave the same way as cotton.

The biggest thing that I ever made from denim was a crocheted rug from denim "yarn" that I cut up. That was decades ago and I swore never again. It was so hard to cut into strips, so hard on the hands and arm muscles to crochet with and it was almost impossible to clean. It did made an almost indestructible rug, but it could not be cleaned and I found that the denim got awfully dirty. Also, it had no softness and weighed a ton! Been there and done that, but never again.

This reminded me of some recycled jeans crafts I made with playcampers over a decade ago, mostly using fabric glue, since it was too tough for the kids to stitch. They had a lot of fun doing it too 🙂

Local thrift stores usually have lots of old jeans for only a dollar or so...

The cord for this one was made from old t-shirts.

This seems to be a good use for denim!

There are a lot of bags beiing made. One thing that I hope happens is that those who make them will actually use them as their bag and not also go out and buy new ones.

This would make a great project for a young sewing group, if there is one anywhere.