RECYCLE DENIM, RE-PURPOSED JEANS...(whatever you like to call it)...it's been one of my passions for several years.

These are 5 reasons I love creating with previously loved jeans!

• “Waste not want not...”

That's what my grandma always said... and what she lived by.  When the usefulness of an item passed, if she could giving it new life by re-purposing it, that's just what she did.  

• It's Beautiful.

Every pair of jeans and I would dare say, even within each pair of jeans (and any other worn piece of denim for that matter), there are wear patterns unique to the wearer which create a one of a kind beauty in the fabric. I made a purse for my daughter that has a truly unique color variation in the strap.  It just might be my favorite piece of denim ever!  You can't get that with a new piece of fabric.

• Durability.

By nature denim stands up to wear very well. Dirt and debris tend to slough off of it and it handles washing very well. I love to make baby blankets with denim because of this.

• Gets better with age.

This might be just a bias of mine but the more worn and washed denim is, the better it becomes. It softens up and the variations of color become more pronounced.

• You don't have to give up something you love.

There is a constant struggle for balance that happens within me. It has to do with nostalgia and my desire to hold on to something for the memory and my need for order and to de-clutter my life. Re-purposing denim has actually helped me accomplish both. An example of this is my SUPER SIMPLE SACK original POST here and TUTORIAL here . As our children have grown, our collection of electronic devices has also grown. With that, the number of chargers and other cords hanging around the house has also grown. Super simple sacks have been a wonderful answer to the chaos of cords.   Cords are contained in neat looking sacks...even when they aren't neat...and you would never know it.

If by chance you need some ideas of how to grow your denim collection check out my first blog post ... BUILD A DENIM STASH!