Project Denim, Diminishing the Jean Pile, Episode 9 : Milk Can Makeover!

Hi Friends! It's a busy time of year here on my little "Patch-A-Heaven." Spring is just the best!! I've
been working on a BIG project outside (which I will share with you later!) for the past 2 weeks. While I was out there working, I saw my rusty, old milk cans that I absolutely adore! But, I decided they needed a makeover. And you guys know me...I'm a sucker for a denim project! When I ponder ideas for décor...denim is always there for me. I think it's because I want my house to be warm, inviting, relaxed and comfortable. And what's more comfy than your favorite pair of old jeans?!! So I use denim in my home décor A LOT! (Not to mention I have an ever endless supply of old jeans to make stuff out of!!)
So today's DIY denim project will be to pretty up my milk cans. I love to decorate with old farm stuff, but I like to give them my own look too. There are so many ways you could up the style factor on these amazing old cans. Here's what I did.

What supplies I used:
Denim from old jeans and skirts
Burlap, Cream and Gold Colored (Joann Fabric)
Lace trim (Joann Fabric)
Metallic Gold Colored Bias Tape
Buttons from the Jeans and Skirts

What I Did:

I cut a piece of cream colored burlap to be the base of the design. I left the edges raw and fringed. (To cut burlap, make a tiny cut where you want and then pick a string there and pull it all the way out. This makes a space for you to cut down. Then to fringe, just pull out strings until you have the desired look. Save those strings for later!) Then wrapped the burlap around the can. Hot gluing it in place.

I then cut a smaller piece of denim (leaving edges raw and pulling fringe) to wrap around the can on top of the burlap. Then glued it in place. I held the fabric in place with pins as I glued so it would be straight. Then I cut a piece of gold bias tape for the bottom and glued it on. I cut a strip of burlap to wrap around the top tied it in a knot and then made the denim fabric and gold burlap flowers and glued them on. I used the buttons from the jeans and skirts as centers for the flowers. I made a ruffle (with raw edges) out of some chambray denim fabric to wrap around the can too.

The reason I said to save the strings you pulled from the burlap, is so you can make string flowers to embellish the cans. I did this just by taking about 3 strings (you could do as many as you want) and make a loop, then glue the loop in place, then make another loop about the same size and glue the end in the middle of the flower, keep making loops and gluing in the middle to hold the flower until you have a flower the size you want.
These are really fun!!

Here's a close up of the string flowers.

I made some rosette flowers from denim and the gold bias tape for the centers of flowers too. Do this by taking a thin strip of fabric (denim and bias) and make a knot in one end. Then using a hot glue gun, fold and glue the fabric around the knot until you have a flat rosette flower.

Because the first can had so much going on, I wanted the one below to be more simple. Also the top one was plain, but the one below has the cute writing on it that I wanted to show. So on this one I just made a sash to tie around the top out of the gold burlap. Then I cut out a rectangle tied some of the strings around the middle, making a bow, tied it onto the sash and then glued a denim rosette flower in the center. I left some of the gold strings hanging down in the middle for "fringe effect" and also pulled some fringe on the rosette flower denim strip before making it into a flower for more "fringe effect!"

Here is a close up of the top sash and denim/gold burlap flower. I also made another burlap string flower with a gold bias tape rosette to hang from the hole.

And because I loved the gold painted burlap so much I made a pillow out of it too! I wanted it to have the raw fringed edges so I just measured my pillow form and cut the burlap. Then sewed it so the raw edges were on the outside (instead of putting right sides together and sewing then turning) I sewed with wrong sides together and left the fringe outside.

To embellish the pillow I used some extra chambray denim fabric I had lying around to make a ruffle. I made a flower out of some cream colored lace by gathering the lace in the middle and gluing in place in center until I had a flower. I used only hot glue to attach everything. I used the sewing machine to sew the gathered ruffle and the sewing of the pillow.

Here's a shot of the burlap pillow. I styled it with a denim pillow I made on a previous blogs post about using up old denim.

To see the blog post where I made the denim flower pillow click here: Decorative Denim Pillow

Here's the project completed!

I love these old cans, where they came from and what they represent! And now I love them more because they also reflect my own personal style!!

Hope your Spring is shaping up to be perfect! And I'll see ya next time!!

"Project Denim" Diminishing The Jean Pile, Episode 5: Belt Loop Bobbies

Welcome Friends! I still have a huge pile of old denim jeans just screaming to be made into something fantastic. My "Handy Hubby" works outside and even though Wrangler makes a pretty tough jean, he wears them out. But I just can't get myself to throw them away! They are good for something...which brings me to today's post. Say Hello to "Denim Belt Loop Bobbies!" I love belt loops, they are just cool! So I unpicked them off the pants and glued them onto small alligator clips. So simple and fast! And I think they turned out pretty cute. I also did some using other parts of the pants (jeans just have so many cool seams to choose from!) Here are a few I made:

I wore them to church today.

Thanks for following my creative journey! Love from "Patch-A-Heaven!"

"Project Denim", Diminishing the Jean Pile, Episode 1, Denim Pillowcase/Decorative Pillows

Hello my fine friends! It seems that my blog has been dominated by fashion posts lately, and I love

that! However  I'm excited to change gears a bit and do another DIY, creative, crafty sewing series. Anybody else (besides me) have a giant pile of old jeans that you've just been saving?  There's a huge mountain of jeans that have holes in various places, but that still have some life left in them. (Just not life in the state they are in now!) I feel like turning myself into "Hoarders Anonymous" if I don't take action soon!  I've been contemplating for a long time some projects to use up these old jeans. So let the reincarnation begin and let's diminish that denim pile together! What do you say? Are you with me? Let's do this!!


For episode 1 of this denim series I have made a pillow case and a decorative pillow for my son's cowboy themed bedroom. When I made his room accessories when he was born I made a pillow out of a brown faux suede fabric that resembles leather and I think a denim addition is just what his room needs now that he is getting ready to move into the "big boy bed!"

Pillow cases are really easy to make, but denim creates it's own challenges just because of it's thickness. So just be thoughtful when planning which pieces of denim go where so that you don't have too many thick seams together. (Most sewing machines don't like this sort of thing!)

What I did:

I used two large pairs of denim jeans. I opened the pants first by cutting down the inseam and all the way to the top of the waist and then opened the pant leg up. Then I cut the leg into 2 pieces. (This will obviously vary because my hubby is 6'3 so I have lots of leg to work with!) I got out an old pillowcase the size I wanted to make and patterned after that for measurements. I sewed 3 of my pieces together and made two of those, then with right sides together I sewed them together to make the case. I did not finish the raw edges that show because I wanted the fray look. If you don't then you would need to finish the raw edges before sewing the case together. When using 3 pieces sewn together it made "leftovers" so that's why I made the smaller pillow.
I was just careful to not put thick seam on thick seam. This did not take much time and I'm 2 pairs down!! If you have pile like mine, stay tuned to the blog. I will have more ideas on how to use up the hoarded stash of old denim!!

Hope you have a Fancy Day from "Patch-A-Heaven!"




Here's a shot of some of the vinyl lettering we did in the boy's room.

The magnet board that I repurposed from when it belonged to my daughter.

Do you have one of these piles at your house and wondering what the heck to do with it?! Stay tuned for more ideas!!

 

I made a decorative pillow case and pillow for my son's cowboy themed room.