How to make a Trendy Copper and Denim DIY Magazine Rack

Upcycle Jeans And Copper Piping Into A Stylish DIY Magazine Rack

Since starting this blog, as well as being featured on many great sites I have had many of my projects featured in printed magazines and have even been interviewed for one. How cool is that! I want to keep these magazines easy to hand so I can show off my “fame” when friends and relatives visit. So I made myself a trendy DIY magazine rack for the living room.
 
Copper is on trend at the moment 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 junkie, this rack is a really stylish way to store my magazines. Personally I think copper and denim just go together so well.
 
I had a stash of old jeans that I hoard for upcycling projects and my friendly local builder gave me some copper piping scraps. I bought any extra bits of copper piping I needed from the DIY/Homestore.
 

 

 

 
 
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What you need to make a DIY magazine rack.

• 22mm copper piping (about 2.5m)
• 8 copper piping female 90 degree elbow conectors
• 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 2 elbows to 2x 30cm lengths. To secure the joins put glue inside the elbow joint before joining to the pipes. (If you have the equipment you can solder these joints if you prefer)

 

3. Then you attach the 4 remaining elbow joints to the top of your U’s perpendicular to the elbow joints at the bottom. The Magazine rack is finished off 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 it.

How to make the Denim Sling

1. Carefully cut the waistband off the jeans, then cut both legs off at the top.

 

2. 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 centimeters is ok).

 

3. Pin these 2 large pieces right sides together. Sew down the long edge leaving a 1cm seam edge. This is 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. Neaten this up by tucking over the rough edge and sewing a seam of approx 1cm while keeping the tube open.

 

5. To make the loops at the top of the sling, cut six strips approximately 16cm in length from the waist band. Fold 3 of these waistband strips in half to form a loop. Pin together the top of the denim tube sandwiching the loops in between. One at each end and one in the middle. Sew the top of the tube together with these sandwiched loops.
    
   Note your sewing machine may struggle with the extra thickness when sewing over the loops, you can just do these by hand if necessary.

 

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

Finishing your DIY magazine rack

 

 
 
Thread your denim sling through the top copper piping lengths and then glue 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 as long as all the bits used are the same diameter. The copper pipe will tarnish over time if you don’t want this to happen you can lacquer your frame.
 

 
You don’t have to use an old pair of jeans to make your sling, you can use any strong fabric you like. To be really on trend you could print your own canvas fabric with cactus and use that to make the magazine rack sling.
 
If you love repurposing old jeans as much as I do then you may want to check out some of my other DIY denim storage ideas:
No sew denim suitcase
Brilliant upcycled denim storage boxes
Denim pocket wall organiser
Nifty Denim ottoman with storage
 
 
For more great DIY storage ideas check out the DIYideacenter.