How to make a Trendy Copper and Denim DIY Magazine Rack

Even though I love browsing other blogs and Pinterest for crafting ideas, I enjoy flicking through magazines too. I hang onto my crafting magazines. And I have made myself a trendy DIY magazine rack for the living room.

Copper is on-trend in home interiors, and I love upcycling old jeans. Therefore I decided to use both these materials to make an awesome DIY magazine rack.

Being a bit of a magazine enthusiast, this rack is a stylish way to store my magazines. I think copper and denim go together so well.
 
I had a stash of old jeans that I hoard for upcycling projects, but you only need one pair of jeans to repurpose for this project. My friendly local builder gave me some copper piping scraps. I bought any extra bits of copper piping I needed from the DIY/Homestore.

Upcycle Jeans And Copper Piping Into A Stylish DIY Magazine Rack

This denim upcycled is featured in the A to Z of denim crafts.

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What you need to make a DIY magazine rack

• 22mm copper piping (about 2.5m)
• Eight copper piping female 90-degree elbow connectors
• Pipe cutter
• 1 Pair of old jeans – straight or boot cut (not skinny)
• Epoxy glue like Araldite
• Sewing machine or needle and thread
• Lacquer (if you don’t want the copper to tarnish).

How to construct the DIY Magazine rack frame

1.. Firstly, cut the copper piping into 8 lengths 2x 25cm, 4x 30cm & 2x40cm. You can use a pipe slicer or hacksaw to cut your pipe.

2. Then make 2 X U shapes out of the pipe, with the 25cm at the bottom joined with two elbows to 2x 30cm lengths. To secure the joins, glue inside the elbow joint before joining the pipes. (If you have the equipment, you can solder these joints if you prefer).

3. Then, you attach the four remaining elbow joints to the top of your U’s perpendicular to the elbow joints at the bottom.

The DIY magazine rack is finished by attaching the 2 U’s with the longer 40cm copper pipe. However, don’t do this until you have made your denim sling, as the pipe needs to be threaded through this.

 Confused? Don’t worry; the picture below shows the pipe construction much better than I can explain.

How To Make The Magazine Rack Denim Sling

Step1: First, carefully cut the waistband off the jeans, then cut both legs off at the top.

2. Next, unpick the outer seam of each leg. You should now have two large pieces of denim; trim these until they are approximately 68cm X 38 cm (give or take, a couple of centimetres is ok).

3. Pin these two large pieces of denim right sides together. Sew down the long edge leaving a 1cm seam edge.

This will be your sling, which is now a tube. One end should have a nice seam from the hem of the jeans. The other end will be where you cut the jeans.

4. Next, neaten this up by tucking over the rough edge and sewing a seam of approx 1cm while keeping the tube open.

To make the loops at the top of the sling, cut six strips approximately 16cm in length from the waistband. Fold 3 of these waistband strips in half to form a loop.

5. Pin the top of the denim tube, sandwiching the loops—one at each end and one in the middle. Sew the top of the tube together with these sandwiched loops.
 
Your sewing machine may struggle with the extra thickness. When sewing over the loops, you can do these by hand if necessary.

6. Repeat the last step with the bottom of the denim tube. Your sling is now ready.

Finishing The DIY magazine rack

 7. Thread the denim sling through the top copper piping lengths and then glue it to the elbow joints of each U. Your stylish magazine rack is now complete and ready to go.

 
I used 22mm copper piping, but you can use bigger or smaller piping depending on your taste or what scraps you get from your plumber. Just make sure all the bits used are the same diameter. The copper pipe will tarnish over time. You can lacquer your frame if you don’t want this to happen.

You don’t have to use an old pair of jeans to make your DIY magazine rack; you can use any strong fabric. To be on-trend, you could print your canvas fabric with cactus and use that to make the sling.

I have used this as a magazine rack, but some of my readers have found other uses. One uses it to store logs by the fire, and another says their cat sleeps in the sling.

If you want somewhere to store archived magazines, check out these classy DIY magazine holders made with cereal boxes and old maps.