I was just inspecting the pair of old jeans I'm wearing and I think it's time to retire them. As winter is
almost upon us here in Australia, I'm becoming increasingly aware of the drop in temperature as
the fabric is so thin and they have so many holes.
But it's hard to give up a pair of old blue jeans - they become like a friend. A ratty friend I guess that your other friends may not want to be seen alongside; but comfortable and familiar nonetheless.
I guess it's good denim is so durable and old jeans so hard to part with as
"mainstream" cotton isn't
environmentally friendly. 925 gallons (around 3,500 litres) of water
are required to produce a single pound of cotton. According to Wikipedia, Cotton
covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world's
insecticides, more than any other single major crop.
Anyhow, what usually happens at this point with my old jeans is they become rags or I'll use them as padding when packing
boxes as that's about all they are good for by the time I'm done with them -
except perhaps for use as earth
friendly insulation; but I don't really get rid of enough :)
My father would sometimes cut the legs off of his and extend their life through repurposing the jeans as a pair of shorts.
A few other uses for old jeans I've seen around the place:
- Cut them up to use as patches.
- If yours don't get in the same condition as mine; consider donating them to charity
- Cut off the legs, fill them with sand and sew up the ends to create door snakes to stop draughts.
Nothing really exciting there - but I headed out to Instructables and found a
bunch of interesting ways (complete with instructions) to not so much to recycle
jeans, but more repurpose or "upcycle"; including
It's a bit of a shame we mere males usually aren't taught how to sew as we
grow up or those who are often are heckled by their pals - it's such a great
skill to have; particularly on the upcycling
scene. Oh well, guess it's never too late to learn as sewing, knitting,
crocheting are all great self-sufficiency skills!
Have you created anything interesting by repurposing old jeans?
