Have you ever had one of those pairs of jeans that you just can’t let go of?

Well, I have this one pair of jeans that I bought about 10 years ago and I just can’t seem to let them go. They were a snug fit at the top with a flared leg. I loved those jeans so much, but like many of the jeans that I’ve owned, it didn’t take long before the bottoms started to get tattered. I wore those suckers until the bottom seams actually tore away from the leg and formed a loop that caused me to trip if I wasn’t careful. It came to the point where I simply could not wear them without risking falling on my face or at the very least looking like I was in dire need of a shopping trip. Not being one to give up easily, I decided that I could continue to wear my favourite jeans if I cut them into shorts. Needless to say, they soon became my “go to” shorts. As my favourite shorts, I got lots of wear out of them, but they too began to show signs of wearing.  The denim in the upper thigh area began to thin and once again, I feared the worst. As the denim weakened and the threads began to break, a small hole developed. At first I was worried about the wearing denim, but I actually grew to consider myself pretty lucky since others were now paying top dollar to purchase torn jeans from the store. I figured these suckers had to be pretty valuable, as this hole was not machine made, but rather worn through the natural process of wear and tear. I sported that hole with pride until the day it caught on something as I walked by. In an instant, the funky worn look was replaced with an “L” shaped rip. I’m embarrassed to say that I was really upset when it happened. It’s bad enough when you get a stain or ruin any article of clothing, but these jeans and I….we had a history. I was so disappointed and mad at myself for not being more careful. I know that sounds totally ridiculous, but I just didn’t have another pair of jeans that fit like those ones. Feeling defeated, I decided I had to try to do something to restore what was left of my poor old jeans. I decided to cut out a heart shaped patch to sew over the hole. Certainly not ideal, but this would allow me to hide my thigh that now seemed way too exposed for my comfort. I think that was about 2 or three years ago and I’m happy to say, my jean shorts live on. Obviously, I wear them at home more than anywhere else, but I continue to love the comfort they deliver each time I slip them on. (I also love the reliable feedback they never fail to give me ~ somedays its like they are screaming at me “EAT SALAD!”)

You may be thinking this is where this love story ends, but not so. Of course, years ago, when I cut the legs off those jeans, I packed them away in my fabric tub. So this fall when I wanted to make myself a funky denim lunch bag….guess what I dug out? You got it….I upcylced those cut-off legs into a new lunch bag!

You will notice that the bag has one of the chalkboard tags from yesterday’s post. (Also, when doing my final edit, I realized I missed a step. I finished the bottom of the floral bag in the same way I did the denim bag in steps 5 to 7.)