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How To Make Denim Feather Wall Decor

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I got the idea for this denim feather wall decor over the summer whilst making denim tassels.

It wasn’t a great leap to work out how to make denim feathers from old jeans. The principle was the same as with the tassels. Which is basically fraying scraps of old denim. I just had a few details to work out like the feather spine and shape.

You can make either an indigo or white feather from one piece of denim scrap. The color will depend on which way you lay the template onto the scrap fabric.

Like with the tassels this was a great craft for those of us who find they have fidgety fingers when watching TV.

I made these feathers whilst getting stuck into the brilliant Netflix series Ozark. That’s probably why I ended up making loads of the feathers and hence made them into a wall hanging.

As well as making a feather wall decor you can also use individual denim feathers to make earrings, bag charms, and gift toppers.

DIY repurposed denim feather wall decor

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What You Need To Make Denim Feathers

  • Denim scraps – The scrap pieces will need to be as big as you want your feathers. You will also need pieces of denim with no seams or embellishments just plain bits of jeans fabric.
  • Twine – I love Nutscene twine which comes in lots of lovely different colors.
denim scraps needed to make denim feathers.

How To Make A Denim Feather Wall Decor

1. The first thing to do is to cut out a feather shape from your scrap of denim. If you are not confident about doing this free hand you can download my feather template and use this to draw around before cutting out the feather shape.

Make sure that the template lies in the same direction as the weave of the denim. Depending on which way you lie the feather template on the denim will depend on what color feather you will make. Denim tends to be made up of a weave of both blue and white threads.

Denim feather template
Feather template on denim scrap

2. Next cut a piece of twine that is a couple of inches longer than denim feather shape.

cut denim shape and twine

3. Cover the twine in fabric glue and stick it to the center of the denim feather shape. This will create a spine for the feather.

You can stitch the twine in place if you prefer that to glue. However, the glue is better as it also stiffens the twine which helps the denim feather hold its shape.

Sticking on the twine spine to denim feather.

4. To make the feathers, fray the denim by pulling out the threads. Denim is frayed by removing the threads of one color.

Therefore, if you remove the white threads you will end up with blue feathers. If you remove the blue threads you will end up with white feathers.

Cut the feather shape the long way, with grain for one color and cut across the grain for the other color.

how to make denim feathers

Making The Denim Feather Wall Decor

5. I used this same method to make several feathers, both white and blue in various sizes.

To make the denim feather wall decor, I first threaded the twine of both a blue feather and a white feather through the same wooden bead.

Threading the wooden bead.
Blue and white repurposed denim feathers

6. Finally, the pairs of repurposed denim feathers were hung from a wooden stick. They were attached to the stick with a drawing pin at the back.

Denim feather wall decor
Denim feathers made from old jeans

I love how the denim feathers have turned out. You can make a collection of feathers in different shades of indigo by using denim scraps from different pairs of jeans.

I think these denim feathers would also look great on a cushion or simply hung in glass frames.

Denim isn’t the only fabric that you can use to make faux feathers. I have used tartan and plaid fabric to make DIY feathers. These tartan/plaid feathers look fabulous as they have color and pattern.

I’ve also made paper feathers out of old maps and made them into a gorgeous paper angel wings decor to hang above my bed.

framed upcycled DIY denim feather
Denim feather wall art
Yield: Denim feathers

Denim Feather Wall Hanging

Denim Feather Wall Hanging

These gorgeous denim feathers are so simple to make and require no sewing.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Difficulty Easy

Materials

  • Scraps of old jeans
  • Branch or driftwood
  • Twine and wooden beads
  • Fabric glue

Tools

  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Using a template cut out a leaf shape from a scrap of denim
  2. Cut a length of twine and stick to the center of the leaf shape
  3. Starting with one side of the leaf pull the cross threads out one by one to fray the denim
  4. Repeat on the other side of the leaf
  5. Make several feathers, thread wooden beads on to the twine.
  6. Hang from a branch

Notes

The colour of the feather will depend on which way you cut the denim. Pulling white threads out will result in blue feathers. Pulling blue threads will result in white feathers.

Recommended Products

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© Pillarboxblue
Project Type: Upcycle / Category: Denim

If you like this you may want to check out some of the other denim upcycles on Pillarboxblue. Such as the boho jeans pillow, upcycled denim gift tag, denim tassels, and a cool denim rug.

If you are looking for some other feather wall decor check out these beautiful free vintage illustrations of feathers.

I even have ideas for denim Christmas decorations

Old Jeans No-Sew Projects

what to do with old jeans no-sew projects

Or check out favecrafts.com for more DIY feather ideas

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kathy A

    These are lovely. I have some remnants of green; I want to try making small Christmas tree ornaments! And some blue feathers….and some black ones. I often fringe material in small prints to make dollhouse tablecloths, runners, and rugs so I am an old hand at fringing. I recently used the strings I fringed for strings price tags; the ultimate upcycle!

    Reply

  3. Shirley Eagle

    I think people are getting confused about how to get the color they want because they don’t understand what “with the grain” means. If you look at the fabric, you can see which direction each color runs and put the stem the direction of the color you want. If you have a hard time telling, fray a few threads to see what you’ll get. That should be even easier. These are cute!

    Reply

  4. Desiree Phillips

    I absolutely love this craft, but I am still having trouble cutting the feathers the right way to get them to fray right. I think this blog would be more helpful if you had more pictures better directions and a video to go along with the craft.

    Reply

    • Claire Armstrong

      Hi Desiree, sorry you are having trouble making the feathers. I’m not sure what to suggest, is the demin you are using very stretchy if so that can make things more difficult. You want to lay the template on the denim fabric so that it follows the direction of the weave and not across it diagonally.

      Reply

  5. Maggie Martin

    Hi Claire!
    I have made about 75 of these feathers (denim addict here) And the tassels too!
    Fun, relaxing and hanging from drapes, sticks, curtain rods, footstool, and just everywhere.
    Thank YOU for all of your great ideas!

    Reply

  6. Susan Klaws

    I just love these denim feathers you created and I now have used your tutorial and am pleased with how you showed everything and am now making the feathers. I find them so attractive and thank you for this craft share. I will try to share my work sometime but have no way to take a picture right now.

    Reply

  12. Penny from BAMA

    I am so excited! Thank you so very much for sharing this. I make Frayed denim coats & jackets. These will be perfect embellishments, with a little tweaking for coat application. I will use the heave seam edging that I usually save to braid for purse handles and instead sew down the center of the ‘feather’ shape cut from the pieces that I have left over from my coat constructions. A couple or three of these will look great strung with beads onto a leather strip to sew onto the finished coat. I cannot wait to go out to my studio and tweak a finished coat! LOVE IT!

    Reply

  16. Rosie (@greenrosielife)

    Another gorgeous ucycling project and I love the range of ways you could use these, especially reusable present toppers. I also reckon with a few extra embellishments they’s make gorgeous Christmas tree decorations. #GoingGreen

    Reply

  20. Amy

    How cute. I actually thought that these were real feathers (dyed of course) before I looked at your actual post. Thank you for sharing at To Grandma’s House We Go.

    Reply

  23. Michelle Leslie

    I just love your denim feathers Claire. My daughter and I made some a few years ago from her old jeans and we used the seam down the leg for the feather stalk bit (not sure what it’s really called) but your idea is so much nicer. There’s only so many feathers you can make with the seam

    Reply

  29. Julie

    OK Claire, this is getting ridiculous, you have to stop making these gorgeous things that I have no time to try myself right now!! I thought the tassels were cute but these are even more lovely if that’s possible!
    Wouldn’t they be fun on gift wrap? Along with a pretty tag or something.

    Reply

    • Claire Armstrong

      Thank you, Lisa. They are very simple to make, Ive had the idea for ages but for some reason it took me a while to get around to making them. Now I’ve started I can’t stop. At this rate I’m going to have enough feathers for a Lampshade.

      Reply

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