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How to cut up Old Jeans to get the most the useful elements
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Mar 17, 2025
Take those old jeans and cut them up to maximise the amount of fabric that you get and keep all the detailed seams for some more craft projects. All achieved with some decent scissors! --------------------------------------------- V I D E O S I MENTION IN THE VIDEO : Mobile phone / tablet holder - https://youtu.be/-b4715EI7Cc Denim Apron - https://youtu.be/FwHhB4i_GjM Pretty Denim Flowers - https://youtu.be/LepSj-vMmfo -------------------------------------------- ➡️ Want to see loads of written tutorials too? If yes, click here: https://christines-crafts.com/ 🆓 Access my resource library for free: https://christines-crafts.com/enjoy-the-craft-gardening-resource-library/ -------------------------------------------- Inquiries: christine@christines-crafts.com --------------------------------------------
View Video Transcript
0:00
so you want to take your old jeans you
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want to cut them up and you want to use
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them for crafts well all I'm going to
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show you in this video is how to cut the
0:06
jeans up get the most out of them get
0:08
all those exciting little details those
0:10
little bits and all I'm going to use is
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a pair of scissors no rotary cutters in
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sight so everyone can do this and then
0:17
you can go on to create whatever do you
0:19
know some people will even buy the bits
0:21
that you've cut off so let's get started
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we'll start with the legs of the jeans
0:27
and we're just going to cut that hem off
0:30
it's really thick and it's great for
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some crafts but it's not the best for
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others so if we just cut it off you'll
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find you get these nice rings that can
0:40
be used for other projects quite often
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people will cut those Rings up and cut
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the really chunky bit where the leg seam
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comes in and take that away so let's put
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those to one side unless you've got a
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craft idea you're going to run off and
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make with them and we now look at that
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long leg seam now you often on a pair of
1:00
jeans got two seams there's one that's
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like this just an ordinary seam not too
1:04
thick which you may or may not want to
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keep on your Fabric and there's that
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really thick seam the doubled over one
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you know the ones well it runs all the
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way around up to the crotch back down
1:16
the other leg and we're going to cut it
1:17
off so just pick one side or the other
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and you're just going to run all the way
1:24
up and the trick here really is just to
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stay alongside it and this is exactly
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the sort sort of item that people might
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buy off you if you don't have any craft
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projects you want to use it with if
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you're strictly a sewer and you really
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just want to do um patchworks and those
1:40
sorts of crafts then you probably want
1:42
the big piece of fabric from the leg
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which incidentally we're maximizing by
1:47
doing this um so you could look if
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somebody else wants them but they are
1:52
great for handles making jewelry you
1:55
could make um plant pots by wrapping it
1:58
around a in oh it's endless I mean you
2:01
look online you will find loads of
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crafts and as I'm just cutting around
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here I'm just going to say this is one
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way of cutting your jeans up to maximize
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your return but be careful that you know
2:12
what project you want to make before you
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set off for example I'll put it on the
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screen and in the description below that
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I make a nice um phone mobile phone
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stand out of the leg of a PA par of
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jeans so you want to keep it as a leg to
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make that project so that's just one
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example of where you might want to cut
2:30
them up differently so this is all about
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getting the most out of the jeans but if
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you have a certain project you may want
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the legest a leg right so we've got to
2:40
the other end and you can see I'm I'm
2:43
making some big pieces of fabric here
2:45
and now all you need to do is cut the
2:48
other side of that seam off so you're
2:50
just going to do exactly what you just
2:52
did run up that seam and cut it off now
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you'll notice I keep adjusting the
2:57
trousers you don't want to cut any of
2:59
the other fabric so just be careful and
3:02
obviously at the top when you C over the
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other seam it'll be a little bit stiff a
3:06
little bit difficult but you can get
3:08
through and then right down to this end
3:12
so you're getting a really good long run
3:14
of seam there she as I say great for
3:17
handles and that sort of
3:18
project so just going to roll that up
3:21
and then I can put it to one
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side you can see how long it is
3:25
admittedly these are a man's jeans so he
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had long legs well he still got long
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legs but he doesn't wear these jeans so
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you can see you've got that big piece
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now you may want to cut that seam out
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and that's absolutely fine but until
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you've decided on your project I suggest
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you leave it there because you've got a
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massive piece of fabric that you can use
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and it may become a
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feature so now let's deal with the top
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of the jeans and again there's lots of
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details we might want here and also we
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want to maximize the big piece of fabric
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we're getting so I tend to start by
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cutting that seam out that goes up to
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the waistband now a lot of jeans this
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pair included you don't go all the way
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up to the waistband because there's a
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set in section at the top so just go to
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that first scene that you come to if
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there isn't a setting section then you
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can just go up to the waistband but most
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have that that shaped
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piece and you can cut that off or you
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can leave it attached to the top it's up
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to you so back around to the front I'm
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going to set off cutting off the
4:28
detailing at the top of these these
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jeans and I'm going to do it like this
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because it does leave you with something
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useful if you look online you will find
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projects using all these top bits um if
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you keep the top as a top as a top I
4:42
don't mean that in the form it is and
4:44
don't do what I'm doing now you can make
4:45
a great apron and again I'll link to my
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tutorial for doing that it's a lovely
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craft apron or a gardening apron but
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assuming you just want to get rid of
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this top section and use that for a
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project in its own right just snip
5:00
around the fly you can see I'm working
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my way
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around having a bit of trouble because
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of the deading piece
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behind um and on jeans there's a
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standard way they're made but there's
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also a little bit of uh variability so
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you just have a look at yours and then
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I'm going to set off along the waistband
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going
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round the belt loop I may or may not
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want the belt loop on there so if I
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leave it on there for
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now I've got that option and I'm working
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there to go round the pocket so I want
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to keep that pocket seam there so I'm
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just going it as close to it as I can
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now I'm having a bit of trouble with the
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pocket underneath you can just cut that
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pocket off and get it out of your way if
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you prefer but I've persevered and oh
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yeah it's going a lot better now and I'm
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round to that side seam so I'm just
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going to cut that pocket out of the side
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seam you could pull it out you could
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just cut it like I'm doing it just needs
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to get disconnected so that it's not
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connected to our big piece of leg fabric
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that we
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want and then I'm going to go over that
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side
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seam and then
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up towards that top section
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seam and then I'm going to run along
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that
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seam and that'll take us all the way
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around the back so it will take us over
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to the center back seat
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which will be very thick and you'll have
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the choice you can just keep going and
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cut along or you can leave that seam
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that you've already cut attached to it
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so for the moment I'm going to leave it
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attached to it I haven't decided on the
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projects for this pair of jeans so I'm
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trying to leave things how they are I
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know I want to make some things with big
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pieces but I don't know what I'm going
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to do with the top section so I'll just
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keep it how it is and then when you go
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back to the side seam back to it I mean
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the other side seam you're going to just
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go down along the side
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seam just making sure I get right there
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and go under that pocket again so I hope
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you're enjoying this and finding it
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useful and if you do think it's useful
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and a good way to get the fabricati
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jeans then please give it a thumbs up so
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it spreads to more people um so many
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people get rid of so many pairs of jeans
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every year it'd be great if they don't
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go in landfill and we're making lots of
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things with them and um one of my
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favorites is actually really simple
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flowers that you can attach to any
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project you know what I'm going to say
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I'll link to
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it but I do love them they're just so
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simple and there's a template so you can
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just cut them out from any Denim and
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make
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those so keep going under that belt
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loop to the
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fly and then we're just going to turn
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and go down this side of the fly
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and down to the bottom of that seam and
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now we should have two completely
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separate pieces well three actually
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we've got the l oh there's the labels
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I've managed to cut off as I work my way
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around I get rid of those so the top
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section looks something like this
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obviously you can cut those Pockets out
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and the back like that and you'll see
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that back shape is used in quite a few
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projects and then you've got these GI
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giant legs if you've got trousers from a
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a man anyway with quite a straight leg
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um but still with the pockets on now you
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have a choice you can leave the pockets
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there there are a lot of projects where
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you keep the pocket or you could using
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some small scissors or a seam ripper
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take that pocket off and you'll actually
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have a different color denim underneath
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which might be quite nice for patchwork
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and you'll have the pocket for maybe
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another craft project so what you can
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see is We've Ended up with the two big
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pieces of fabric from the legs
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the top section and some seams from
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around the Hem and around both legs so I
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hope that's useful and you're going to
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enjoy doing your upcycle Jeans denim
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project thank you for watching and good
9:14
luck with all your jeans as you keep
9:15
them out of lamb fill
#Crafts
#Fiber & Textile Arts