Recycled Denim Wreath

We're in that odd part of the year between the 4th of July and Fall...what most people just call summer--but it's a holiday-less blur of heat and school prep for me. After I put away the few patriotic decorations a couple weeks ago, I realized I didn't have a summer wreath to hang on the door.

I didn't want to make an extra trip to the store to buy supplies, so I decided I would make due with what I had. I have a couple of wreath forms in my craft stash, so I just had to decide what I was going to use for flowers. I thought about felt. I have quite a bit of felt, and I've made felt flower wreaths before (a few times). I had a small pile of torn denim that didn't make the donate pile, so I thought...I could try making flowers out of jeans. Cue the hour long browse of jean wreaths and jean flowers on pinterest. Most of them involved cutting careful patterns and sewing. I'm far too impatient for that, so I thought I'd mostly wing it--most of the best crafts are. So then I spent a night tearing apart old blue jeans into strips of fabric while watching the Olympics. I tore up three pairs of jeans of different shades of denim into strips of varying widths.

The next day, I put my pile of denim on the table and got out my hot glue gun and a craft mat (ignore the alcohol ink stains on the craft mat--the nonstick and heat protection features were what I was after).

I started by rolling up one of the cuff hems of the pairs of jeans into a small twisted rosette. I applied a few drops of glue at the start of the strip of jeans and started the roll. Be careful not to get hot glue on your fingers here--it's really easy for it to squeeze out and burn your fingers. Let it cool for a bit before starting your roll.

Apply glue along the strip and keep rolling. I was pleased with how the frayed edges gave a rustic look and interesting depth of color on this first flower. I was feeling pretty good about my plan to wing it at this point.

Next, I tried a flower I first learned how to make using felt. It's just a little pom-pom flower. Fold a strip of denim in half and glue it along the edge to create a little tube.

Then cut slashes in the side of your tube that isn't glued shut.

Then run glue along the side that isn't cut and roll it up.

Fluff when finished. I made a couple more of these with slightly narrower slits cut in the fabric. This method was my favorite--it was easy and effective for making a flower out of denim.

I made a few more of the rosettes using the seam edges. This one I made by rolling it up a little crooked (on purpose) to create the domed shape.

Then I tried another flower method I've tried with felt before. This one is just like the pom-pom flower but without folding the strip of denim in half first. So I selected a narrow strip and cut into it all along one edge.

Then, just like all the rest, I rolled it up while gluing the bottom edge. Then I fluffed it up. The frayed edges of the denim make for a very fluffy flower with this method.

This next method I've tried before with felt, but with mixed results. I cut 5 circles of denim in the same size. Then I folded 4 of them into quarters. Using a dot of glue on the inside of the half fold and the quarter fold to keep them from unfolding.

Then I put a small dot of glue on the bottom corner of each of the triangles and glued it to the remaining circle. Then you can fluff it up and be done, or you can make another one.

I made two. One that was slightly bigger than the other.

Then I stacked the smaller one on top of the larger one (with a dot of glue) and added one last circle that I folded into quarters and cut to be smaller and glued it so it would stand up in the center. (Then I fluffed the whole thing up.)

The last flower I tried was a method that I used for felt flowers, too. This one requires a circle (or blob) of fabric. So I grabbed one of the largest strips of fabric and cut out a semi-circle with waves and then cut a wavy spiral out of the center.

Then I rolled it from the center out, gluing the bottom edge to create a rose.

This picture doesn't quite capture how rose-like this one turned out. I wished I had some larger squares of fabric from my jeans to try a bigger one, but it was also a successful way to make a flower with denim.

After all of my flowers were made, I wrapped the wreath form with strips of jeans and glued them in place.

I tried to wrap it as smoothly and as evenly as possible, but it was still a bit lumpy in places, and I couldn't manage to get the last edge in a good spot, so I knew that's where the flowers would go.

After wrapping the wreath in denim and making all of the flowers, I tried to arrange the flowers on the wreath to prepare for gluing. Since they were all denim, it was all one color and a bit blah, so I decided to use a technique that I have used on silk flowers before--dying the fabric with alcohol ink. I wasn't sure that it would work on denim, but I gave it a go anyway. I cut a bunch of leaves to try first. I just used a little tin and some rubbing alcohol to thin a couple of shades of green alcohol ink. 

I used a paint brush to begin with. I thought they were looking a bit teal, but it was working. So, I added another darker green and kept going. I cut out more leaves. I tried dipping the leaves into the liquid ink. I even tried cutting a square to dye so I could see if it mattered if I cut it after dyeing the fabric. It all worked just fine. Dipping got a darker color but used a lot more ink. Painting used a lot less ink, but was not quite as dark. I did not notice a difference in the fabric square I cut after dyeing.

I left my leaves (and one square) to dry.

Since it worked so well, I thought I'd try dying some of the flowers. I cleaned out my tin and went with pink (I tried to select colors that would mix will with the blue of the denim).

I painted the dye onto the flower and was pleasantly surprised with how well it was working. The color was vibrant, but you could still see the denim.

I grabbed one of my pop-pom flowers and painted on the alcohol ink. Then I added some purple to the leftover pink and dyed even more flowers.

By the time I was done, though, the ink had started to dry and it was turning darker and darker. I don't know if every brand of ink will get darker as it dries, but this ink definitely did. I was happier with the ink when it was lighter, but the dyeing worked, so I guess I can't complain (also, the ink will probably fade in sunlight).

After the flowers dried, I laid them out how I wanted to glue them on the wreath (ok, so I tried this once when the flowers weren't dry yet--hence the ink on the wreath--oh well, I'm covering that up anyway). 

I glued on the flowers how I had laid them out and then came back and tucked the leaves in around the flowers, gluing them as I went. (I'm not sure why these two photos turned out so orange--I tried to color correct them--but that was as good as I could get.)

This project took a few days to complete, but I think it turned out really cute. I tried some old techniques on a new medium and they pretty much all worked out (which almost never happens), so I'd call it a success! And...I have a wreath to hang on the door until Fall.

I have a whole bunch of strips of denim left...what should I make next?