I was in my local thrift store today and saw two things I wanted to either buy or make for myself, and both of them used recycled denim.

The first item was a wonderful organizer that could be used for so many things - imagine a strip of medium to heavy-weight fabric, about 15 inches wide and 30 inches long, hemmed all around, with a casing at the top to slide over a dowel holder.

I think a placemat could be used instead, or perhaps even two placement sewn end to end.

So now you have a length of fabric over the dowel, with denim pockets of all shapes and sizes sewn onto it. The thrift store was using it to display bits and bobs in the fabric section; there were pockets holding crochet hooks, scissors, rulers, and bits of ribbon wound around cardboard. It was just what I needed for my disorganized sewing room!

Alas and alack, I went to grab and then saw the sign: For Store Display Only. Darn it.

However, it shouldn’t be all that hard to make…and my collection of jean pockets is starting to accumulate again.

The next find was a roomy denim tote - but a little different from any others that I have seen online. This one was sewn with the jeans zipper next to the left front side seam of the bag, which I thought odd at first, but it had the effect of placing the pockets in a handy position.

The straps were made from the bottom of the legs - I think the hems were cut off with about 2 inches of extra fabric from the legs, then the last half inch was folded to make a clean line, then the extra fabric was folded over to meet the end of the jeans hem and sewn in place. Made for a pair of super sturdy, non-fraying tote handles.

The other nice design element was sewing a reinforced line across the bottom of each side, creating a triangle that effectively made the bag wider and more roomy. Neat.

Unfortunately, I was called away from the store and by the time I got back, it was closed, so I didn’t get to buy the jeans tote either. Guess I’ll have to make my own!