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What To Do With Old Jeans No-Sew Projects

There are many ways to repurpose, recycle and upcycle old jeans and denim for the home. The only problem is that sometimes old denim can be a real pain to sew. That’s why I’ve compiled this list of over 33 what to do with old jeans no-sew projects.

It’s not the standard denim fabric that is hard to sew. It is the thick bits on a pair of jeans. Bits like the seams, waistbands, pockets, hems and belt loops can be difficult to stitch. Unless, of course, you happen to have a heavy-duty sewing machine on hand.

These thick trims on a pair of jeans are often the most exciting parts. They are what give upcycled denim projects that extra bit of character. No-sew upcycled jeans projects that use glue instead are great for utilizing these bits.

Good fabric glue or a contact adhesive is great with no-sew jeans projects. These glues are waterproof and washable.

However, as nearly all of the old jeans no-sew projects I do are for home decoration crafts, I haven’t had to wash them yet. Well, it’s nothing more than a gentle wipe-down, so I haven’t been able to truly test how the glues hold out under those conditions.

No Sew denim projects pin

What To Do With Old Jeans No-Sew

The following list is a selection of ideas of what to do with old jeans no-sew. That is instead of a sewing machine or needle and thread, glue is used with these denim upcycles.

When your old jeans wear out, instead of chucking them out, upcycle and repurpose them into something fun for your home.

Upcycling and repurposing old jeans is not only environmentally sound, but denim is an excellent material. It is robust and hardwearing and comes in lovely shades of indigo.

Also, when you use an old favourite pair of jeans, it can personalize a project. For example, with the no-sew denim pocket advent calendar I put up every year, the family recognizes some of their old jeans’ pockets.

Hopefully, you have found some inspiration for what to do with your old jeans that are no-sew. If you are still looking for more denim DIYs and crafts for the home, I have a great upcycled denim Pinterest board here that you can follow.

You might want to check out these other posts if you love to upcycle. These Jeans projects are featured under the letter J in the A to Z of clever upcycling projects.

23 coolest no-sew jeans projects

Marina Teramond

Saturday 13th of November 2021

To tell the truth, I’m so glad that I came across your article and became aware of such a great ideas how to breathe new life into old jeans, creating some new things out of them, because I think that it’s quite widespread problem when they only dust on the shelf and you don’t know what to do with them. I can say that before this moment a lot of these ideas hadn’t crossed my mind but now I understand how fascinating they are and that I need to implement them into reality. Frankly, the majority of these ways of transforming old jeans into something fresh and new blew my mind because they are so unique and not typical but fully applicable. I fall in love with the creation of the denim stuffed animal because it is something that will warm you and create this atmosphere of coziness in your home.

// Marina Teramond @ NMPL

Claire Armstrong

Sunday 14th of November 2021

Thank you, it is always fun to think of new ways to upcycle an old pair of jeans.

Michelle Leslie

Wednesday 24th of July 2019

I bet you could do at least three big round-ups of denim projects just using your tutorials Claire. Love this no-sew one. Denims aren't the easiest thing in the world to try and sew and I'm guessing thrift stores are going to be running out of second-hand denims real soon after everyone sees what they can do with them ;-)

Claire Armstrong

Wednesday 24th of July 2019

Thank you. With 3 boys I just seem to have an endless supply of old denim to craft with.