How to Sew Potholders From Old Jeans

Even the most loved pair of jeans eventually gets to the point where you just can't wear them any more. Making useful things for your house is a great way to recycle your old jeans. Because of the thickness and durability of denim, old jeans make great potholders. Get out your sewing machine and follow these steps to recycle your old jeans into potholders.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sewing machine
• Cut-out layers of denim and batting or terry cloth
• 1/2-inch double-fold bias tape in color of your choice
• Thread to match the bias tape
• Quilting needle

Cutting Out Your Potholder Pieces

1. Spread your jeans on a flat surface backside up so you can see the patch pockets in the back and smooth the fabric out so there are no bumps. Turn the hip pocket lining out so it isn't between the front and back layers of fabric.

2. Measure the pockets both across and down, making note of the proportions. If your jeans don't have patch pockets on the rump, then your potholders will be the pocketless kind.

3. Draw a square on the paper one inch bigger around than the pocket measurement you wrote down and cut out the paper pattern. Repeat on a second piece of paper so that you have two identical pattern pieces.

4. Lay the pattern piece on top of one jeans pocket and pin it down to both thicknesses as you are going to cut out the front and back of the potholder at the same time.

5. Cut out the potholder pieces, going slowly as you cut through both thicknesses to prevent wrinkling up of the fabric. You should now have two squares of double-thickness denim.

6. Remove the pattern pieces from the denim, replacing the pins into the two thicknesses of denim. Now transfer the pattern pieces to a sheet of craft batting or an old towel, pin them down and cut them out. If using towels, cut out two or three squares per potholder.

Sewing Your Potholders

7. Lay out one pocketless squares of denim wrong-side up.

8. Position your chosen thicknesses of inner layers (batting or terry cloth towel fabric) on top of this square of denim.

9. Set one pocket-bearing piece of denim, pocket-side up, on top of the stack, pinning together as you go.

10. Sew the layers together, leaving about one quarter inch hem around the edge. Go slowly so as to prevent the pieces from puckering, something that can happen easily as you are sewing through several layers.

11. Cover the raw edge on one side of the potholder with double-fold bias tape of your choice. Start at one corner and work around the square, leaving 3 inches or so to fold over as the loop. Pin it down, then sew around one side.

12. Fold the bias tape over the raw edge to the other side, folding in the extra piece to make a loop and securing the end of the loop up underneath itself. Pin the bias tape down, then sew by hand, using a slipstitch, around the potholder, securing the underside of the bias tape.

Tips & Warnings

• Be creative with the bias tape. Use a blue shade close to the denim color for a solid look, use a bandanna pattern for a Western look, or select a color that coordinates with your kitchen.

Resources

• JoAnn Fabrics website offers a variety of batting.
• Site offering craft size/weight batting at lower prices than by the bolt.
• Site containing easy crafts, including potholders from scrap fabric.
• Site includes instructions for sewing bias tape.

[hagridsmom]

on 9/24/2009 If you are using batting - please be carful to use cotton batting - the polyester can melt and burn you if it gets too warm. Not all readily available batting is cotton so read the label or better yet - use towelling.