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.

These denim feathers featured under the letter F in the A to Z of denim upcycles.

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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.

• Fabric Mod Podge

• Wooden beads 10-12mm with a 5mm hole.
• Stick and drawing pins to hang the denim feathers from.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I love to use old branches for my wall hangings and have used them with this paper Mache watercolor heart decoration.

Yield: Denim feathers

Denim Feather Wall Hanging

Print

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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• 
  Mod Podge 8 oz Fabric Embellishment
• 
  Nutscene 13 m Twine Spool - Blue
• 
  100 Or 200 - Wooden Mixed Size & Shape Wood Beads Craft Jewellery Dolls Hair Braiding - Pack Size: 100 Beads

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.

Flowers are a fun thing also to make out of denim. I’ve made two types of denim flowers, roses and thistles from repurposed jeans. Other fun nature-themed denim crafts include this faux moth taxidermy.

I even have ideas for denim Christmas decorations

Old Jeans No-Sew Projects

Or check out favecrafts.com for more DIY feather ideas