Drop-Dead Denim: One Tough Pouf

And just like that... we're here! At the end of our Drop-Dead Denim road... Wow! My heartfelt thanks to my amazing guest-blogger-friends, to the Flickr group contributors, to the generous giveaway sponsors, to all commenters and readers, to all those denim artists out there, and of course, to denim itself. You've made this month a real highlight for me! I just have one last little post left for you... Enjoy!

♥ M

I hadn't made any denimy goodness for the boy this September, bad me, and I felt I needed to rectify that. What fun thing could I make him? I decided to go with a pouf for his room. I've been planning one of these for, like, ever. And you know what? It has been a HUGE hit. I didn't have the slightest clue that he would love it the way he does. He lugs it about. He rolls it around. He hugs it. He jumps on it. He beats it. And I let him. It is one tough pouf!

Tutorial: One Tough Pouf

I kinda made this up as I went along. Here's my attempt to explain my process.

You will need:

• Denim scraps in different shades
• 18" round template (I used a large plastic platter rescued from the recycling bin.)
• 5" round template
• paper templates as drawn out in #2 below
• Pair of scissors
• Sewing machine
• Ruler and pencil
• straight pins
• needle and thread
• stuffing (I used the stuffing from 2 large cushions that we rarely used)
• Optional: embroidery thread and dimensional fabric paint

1. On a large piece of paper, draw out a circle using your 18 inch circle template. Find the center of your circle. You want to figure out how big a 1/12th wedge of the circle is. The angle of the resulting wedge will measure: 360°/12 = 30°.

2. So from your circle, you will pick out one 30° wedge and then add a 10 inch long rectangle to the bottom of this wedge. Divide the wedge from the bottom rectangle with a straight line. Now divide the wedge into two sections as in #2. Cut off about 1 inch of the uppermost apex of the wedge. On a separate sheet of paper draw out the individual resulting shapes. Add 1/4 inch seam allowance to every side of each shape. Cut out your shapes. These are your pouf templates.

3. For each pouf template, cut out 4 each of 3 different shades of denim. I did light, medium and dark as best I could.

4. To prepare for sewing, pin top wedge pieces right-sides together as shown in Photo #4, mixing shades of denim as you go.

5. To ensure that the edges of your wedge pieces line up, intersect the pieces as shown in #5. Sew the pieces together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

6. Once you unfold the wedge at the seam, the edges of the two pieces should match.

7. Sew the wedge to the rectangle right-sides together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

8. When unfolded, this will give you a house shape as shown in #8. You need 12 house shapes to make the pouf. Repeat steps 4 through 8 until you have all 12 house shapes.

9. Pin two house shapes right sides together. When pinning the house shapes together it is IMPERATIVE to align the joint between the wedges and rectangle pieces. Otherwise the whole pouf will be askew. Stitch along one side of the house shape with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

10. Press the seams once sewn. Notice that the two house shapes sewn together no longer lie flat. That's good. Add the next house shape to the set of two as in #9.

11. Repeat Steps #9 and #10 until you have sewn all the house shapes together. Join the two end house shapes, pinning and then stitching them right sides together. Press all seams.

12. To finish the top of the pouf, cut out two 5 inch circles, one out of denim and one out of another fabric scrap.

13. Pin the circles right sides together.

14. Stitch circles together with a 1/2 inch seam allowance leaving a few inches open for turning. Cut tiny wedges out of the circle's seam allowance avoiding the opening. Turn the circle inside out. Press.

15. Pin the circle, denim side up, to the center top of the pouf. Stitch in place.

16. Adding a 1/2 inch seam allowance prior to cutting, cut out a denim circle with the help of the 18 inch circle template.

17. Using pins, mark the location of 12 evenly-spaced points along the edge of the denim circle. To do this, start by folding the circle in half. Mark the halves with pins at the edges.

18. Fold the half circle into sixths. Use a ruler to get matching measurements. Mark the sixths with pins on the top and bottom.

19. Fold the sixths in half to find the twelfths. Mark with pins along the edges.

20. Join the denim circle to the pouf right sides together.

21. The pins of the circle should meet the joints of the pouf.

22. Once all of these points are joined, add several pins to the outer edge. Stitch with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Leave an opening for turning.

23. Snip the seam allowance all the way around except at the opening.

24. Stuff your pouf. I used the stuffing from two large cushions to stuff it. This makes a relatively firm pouf.

25. Sew the opening shut.

26. Optional: Add decorative stitching or dimensional paint to make your pouf one-of-a-kind. I added red embroidery details and little dots of red fabric paint to our pouf because that's the boy's favourite-most colour.

And we are there. We have made one tough pouf, yay and yippee!

Thank you again for joining me this September. A great time was had by me, I can tell you!

And I think we now have definitive proof.

Creativity IS in your jeans.

Now go have yourself a fantastic weekend. I'll see you in October!

P.S. The lucky giveaway winners were announced in the previous post!

Drop-Dead Denim Giveaway Winners!

Before I put the final touches on our September of Denim, I'd like to send big hugs out to all who entered Monday's giveaway. It was so much fun putting these packages together. I'm most excited to send two lucky people some lovely denim loot!!!

Okay. Now. So. Are you ready? Brace yourself... The Drop-Dead Denim Giveaway winners as chosen by the Random Number Generator are:

#13 Agy who stated: Ooh, this is great! I'm from somewhere on the other side of the globe :-) The favourite denim craft I've made is when I reupholstered my hubby's swivel chair... I'd love to be able to make some patchwork out of it too. Count me in :-)

and

#30 Liberty who said: Ooh! Very exciting giveaway! I've been following the posts this month with so much enjoyment (my partner somehow puts holes in otherwise strong jeans so I have lots of denim free to use!) What I'd love to make is a denim sunhat with a very wide brim :)

Yippee! Yahoo! Yay! Many congratulations to Agy and Liberty!!! I'll connect with you imminently and send out those delicious packages as soon as possible. And one day I'd love to see your patchwork (Agy) and your very wide brim sunhat (Liberty)!

Coming up in a minute... The Final Drop-Dead Denim post. Can you believe it?

Drop-Dead Denim: Flickr Group Goodies Two

The Drop-Dead Denim GIVEAWAY is happening HERE! Check it out!

♥♥♥

September is all about remaking those old jeans! This is the second of two posts featuring YOUR recycled denim goodness from the Drop-Dead Denim Flickr Group. Revisit the first installment here, and feast your eyes on today's batch of jeanious.

So I ask you... just what does one do with all the leftover scraps from all those nifty denim projects? Well, I think Sherry of Sherry's Simple Blog has the foremost answer to that question. She has clothed her denim disco divas in scraps. Just look at these dolls! They are glorious, and they make me want to cut a rug over here.

Caroline of Artfully Caroline rescued a pair of light jeans and transformed them into this sweet be-frilled denim apron. Thanks to her, the embroidered pockets that once languished in the backseat, now get to shine up in the front. Her apron is adorable and I bet it'll be helping out in the kitchen for a long time.

Until Wednesday Calls' Melissa is a talented maker who loves her denim. Her "little skirt that could" below is unmistakeable evidence of that. To create it, she married a favourite pair of jeans with a vintage sheet. It makes me joyful, this skirt. Such a charming transformation!

What I love about the following Soft Book by Mary of Handmade By Emmens is that the book will only improve with age, as Mary states. As it is loved by baby and thrown in the wash for cleaning, the book will soften and become a beloved family heirloom. What a great gift! Click the above link to view other pages of this precious book.

I am declaring my love for this Super Extra Large Bean Bag by Lumusan this very second. I love you Bean Bag. You have got it going on! You are big. You are beautiful. You are a gorgeous muted patchwork of old jeans. And by Jove, you look cozy, don't you? If I could somehow have you magically materialize under my posterior right now, I would do it I would.

Thank you to all who've uploaded projects to the Drop-Dead Denim Flickr Group. I so enjoyed having you participate in this way. We will definitely be doing this sort of audience participation thing again sometime. Too much fun!

Today I am Diggin' This Denim: Couch Cover by Another Jennifer (Jennifer sent the link over today. I just had to include it!)

Friday I'll be back to announce the winners of the giveaway and to post the final tutorial (and post) of denim month, eep. I will see you then!

Drop-Dead Denim Giveaway!

This Giveaway is now closed!

The month-long Michele Made Me marathon à la denim continues today with... ah yes...

A GIVEAWAY for YOU!

Why a giveaway? Well Drop-Dead Denim was my first big bloggy event. This is just my way of celebrating its near-completion. And... I guess it's also my way of showing my gratitude to you for being part of it and making it so much fun! You know that your mere presence fuels my creativity right? That makes me a happy person. So I want to say thank you.

Edited to Add: Item #12 was added to the Giveaway on 27 Sep 2011!

What's on the table, you ask? The 12 items pictured below will be divided secretly (yet carefully) amongst two lucky readers. Tee hee hee...

NOW! I am just chuffed to have some generous sponsors contributing to today's giveaway!

The first is Brentave Ideas, a dear little etsy shop who's motto is: "Giving new life to old jeans". By George, that is my kinda shop. Denise, the owner, has generously donated the handmade denim pillow (Exhibit#11) above! And pictured below are some of the great denim items available in her shop. They include: a Lilly pad lap cover, a bolster pillow, and a wrist pin cushion. Drop by Brentave Ideas and have a gander. Denise would love to have you!

Daring Miss Lassiter, a second lovely etsy shop, has furnished us with the cutest pair of denim heart earrings (Exhibit #8)! Susan creates unique accessories often using denim as a starting point. Some favourite denim items in her shop can be seen below and include: the designer tie tote, dangle earrings, and pendant necklace!

Susan is kindly offering 15% off to shoppers who've found her shop via Michele Made Me. Enter coupon code MMMPROMO to receive the discount. Isn't that brilliant? Visit Daring Miss Lassiter at etsy or on Facebook anytime!

Here is a closeup of those adorable heart dangle earrings by Daring Miss Lassiter!

Edited to Add: I've been lucky enough to add Fringe Fiber to the giveaway contributors today (27 Sep 2011). See the following paragraph!

Thirdly, Fringe Fiber is an etsy shop whose owner, Kristie Peters, weaves old denim and other fibers into the rich and gorgeous coasters and table runners that you see in the photo below. Kristie has been weaving most of her adult life, and in her own words: "is particularly drawn to upcycling and repurposing existing materials." As you've probably guessed, Kristie has generously donated some beautiful hand woven denim coasters (Exhibit #12) to today's giveaway. Kindly visit her at her shop, Fringe Fiber, on her blog Kris Peters, or on Facebook to see her creativity at work!

And finally, Nancy Minsky (our Drop-Dead Denim special guest), has graciously supplied one of the winners with a copy of her book, Denim Revolution!

Thank you Denise, Susan, Kristie and Nancy for your kind generosity!

Let's get to the heart of the matter, shall we?

The giveaway (divided between 2 winning persons) includes:

1. a copy of Jean Therapy by Scatha G. Allison and Maria Stefanelli
2. a pair of small, non-stick, craft scissors by Fiskars
3. a fine water-erasable fabric marker by Clover
4. a pocket full of vintage lace
5. 2 me-made denim pincushions (pictured below)
6. 4 balls (2 denim blue, 2 variegated yellow-orange) of crochet cotton
7. a copy of Denim Revolution by Nancy Minsky
8. a pair of heart dangle earrings by Daring Miss Lassiter
9. one Mi-shell denim pendant
10. 100 flat flower straight pins
11. a handmade denim pillow by Brentave Ideas
12. denim coasters by Fringe Fiber: Kristie Peters

Rules of entry:

• Please be from somewhere.
• Please do not have a broken email. I cry mostly real tears when the rightful winner cannot be reached.
• Please enter on this post telling me of a favourite denim thing you've made or dream of making.

The giveaway ends Thursday September 29th, 2011, 9 pm EST. Winners will be generated randomly and announced in Friday's Final Drop-Dead Denim post.

Best of luck to you, and have a wonderful day!

P.S. I posted yesterday (yes, Sunday!) so if you missed Poppyprint Krista's guest-post, it was a doozy! Do check it out.

This Giveaway is now closed!

Drop-Dead Denim Guest: Krista from Poppyprint

Today is Sunday and I am breaking my own rule about not posting on the weekend! And the reason I am breaking my own rule is that I could not possibly fit all the September denim goodness into my regular 3 day/week schedule. So my cup runneth over with the following joy-of-a-post from my sweet and talented friend Krista of Poppyprint. Haven't heard of her? That ends here. And fair warning: you will be hooked. Not saying another word.

***

Thanks for having me here in this auspicious corner of blogland, Michele! Every visit to Michele Made Me is an inspiring adventure in clever crafting and writing - I'm so happy to be here.

I didn't think I had an upcycled denim idea in me, but then I found an old jean skirt in my closet a few weeks ago and a lightbulb instantly went off! The back of this straight, ankle-length skirt (read: LOTS of uninterrupted great denim to work with) featured two square pockets that I figured would be entirely useful. For holding my day to day sewing tools.

Before - you've served your original purpose with aplomb, but it's time for a makeover

After - look at you now!

That's right, today we're going to make the Upcycled Jean Skirt Sewing Command Centre! Or, if you prefer: a little quilted placemat thingy to put under your sewing machine that has pockets that hang down over your lap, conveniently holding all of your sewing essentials right at your fingertips. I will use this project under my Featherweight machine. My UJSSCC measures 16"W x 17"L.

This tutorial (and I) assume that you have some basic sewing/quilting knowledge. You can always email me with any questions, but I don't want this to become World's Longest Guest Post because Michele might never invite me back {eta: okay, this is officially the World's Longest Guest Post}.

SUPPLIES

• 1 long denim skirt
• 1/2m cotton fabric for backing
• approximately 2 m of double-fold quilt binding (this is a 2 1/4" strip of fabric, folded in half wrong sides along the length) OR one package of double-fold bias tape.
• batting scrap approx. 22" x 12"
• rotary cutting equipment and shears
• sewing machine, jeans/denim needle for your machine & walking foot if you've got one
• coordinating thread (I use Mettler quilting weight cotton in colour #830 to hem all my jeans as it seems to be a close match to the standard yellowish jean thread.)
• ruler, fabric marking pen, safety pins, straight pins

First thing's first. Let's cut up that skirt! Open up the side seams and make a horizontal cut across the back panel at least 1" below the bottom of the pockets. Retain the top hem or waistband (unless the pockets are more than 3" below the waist, in which case you may want to cut a second line about 1" above the top of the pockets, too). Trim sides perpendicular to the bottom/top edges you just cut to form a rectangle with at least 1" of fabric on the left and right of the outer pocket edges.

Now grab all of your sewing essentials and place them in the pockets. Draw vertical lines where you'd like to sew narrow slots for your tools like seam ripper, marking pen, hera marker, ruler, turning tool...etc. I also sewed a horizontal line across one slot so my scissors wouldn't disappear too deep into the pocket. Sew along your marked lines backstitching at the top and bottom of the pocket to secure.

For extra funky factor, sew a strip of binding across the top of your pocket panel with a 1/4" seam allowance, matching raw edges of binding with top edge of panel. Leave about 1" of extra binding hanging off the ends.

Press the folded binding edge up and over to the back of the panel. Pin in place. Stitch in the ditch along the seam of the binding/panel to secure the binding to the back.

Your pocket panel is complete! Now, we're going to make the small quilt that you'll attach this pocket to.

Ultimately, your quilt will be the same width as your pocket panel, but for now, you want a little wiggle room because things can get a bit distorted with quilting. Measure your Pocket Panel width (PW) and add 1". Now, measure the Depth of your sewing Machine (DM), add the distance you like to have between the front edge of your machine and the edge of your table (TD for Table Distance), add the height of your pocket panel (PH) and add another 3" for wiggle room. Your quilt will be:

(PW + 1" ) X (DM + TD + PH + 3")

Cut a piece of denim from the front skirt panel to this size. Cut a piece of cotton to the same size. Cut a piece of batting that is (PW + 1") X (DM + TD + 3"). You don't want batting behind your pocket panel. You want the batting to end at the edge of your table, so the pocket hangs neatly down over the edge of your table.

Working on the right side of your denim quilt top, lay the batting on top, matching one long edge. Mark a horizontal line on the denim along the edge of the batting (so this line will be DM + TD + 3" down from the top of your quilt). Take the batting away and mark parallel lines 1" apart from the first line, all the way to the top of the denim piece. In other words, you are only going to mark lines where there will be batting under the denim (roughly the top half of the quilt).

Making your quilt sandwich. Layer as follows, from the bottom up, aligning the top edges. Cotton fabric wrong side up, batting, denim right side up. Pin baste through all 3 layers. Here's what mine looked like at this point (notice there are only faint lines drawn on about 1/2 of the denim quilt top).

With a slightly longer stitch length (I used 3.5) sew along the marked lines through all three layers using a walking foot. When those lines are complete, baste all around the outside edge of the quilt sandwich with a 1/4" seam allowance.

You're almost there! Now you need to trim your quilt to it's finished size. Trim the edges so that they line up perfectly with the width of your pocket panel. Pin your pocket panel to the bottom 1/2 of your quilt, aligning the sides and bottom raw edges. Hang the pocket off your table edge and place your machine on top of the quilt as you'd like it to be when you would sew. Determine if you want to trim any of the quilt top off (is the quilt taking up too much table space behind your machine? If so, trim it down to where you'd like it).

Baste your pocket to the quilt. Sew a vertical line up the middle of the pocket panel, forming two large pockets. I did this so the panel wouldn't gape open. These two pockets will be great as a thread catcher, or to hold your cell phone. Note that I didn't stitch through that decorative horizontal 'belt loop thingy' - I figured I could hook a pen or my seam ripper in there.

Starting in the middle of the top edge of your quilt, bind your Control Centre as you would a quilt, mitering the corners. If this concept is new to you, there are a gazillion binding tutorials online. I happen to like this one and this one for their clarity. I like to fold my binding to the back and attach by machine stitching in the ditch (like we did on the top edge of the pocket).

Ok, this might very well be the longest post I've ever written. This is really a fairly simple sewing project except for the binding if you've never done that before. Of course, you can make a Sewing Command Centre out of just about any type of fabric. Corduroy would be fun, but a major lint magnet. Ditto velour. I think sticking with cotton would be best. Here are some action shots, demonstrating the handy usefulness of the UJSSCC:

NOTE: If you find your machine is too slidey on the table now that it's sitting on it's very own quilt, you can cut a hunk of non-skid kitchen drawer liner to put under the UJSSCC, or hand tack a rectangle of rubber-dot slipper fabric to the bottom (available at Jo Ann or Fabricland).

If you make your very own, please share in the Drop Dead Denim Flickr Group and I'd love to see it in the Poppyprint Project Group as well!

Edited to add by Michele: Please visit Krista at Poppyprint anytime for her gorgeous quilting and crafting projects, her beautiful writing, and her laugh-out-loud sense of humour.

Okay, just a few more words... Krista!!! You have a knack for making beautiful AND useful things. I could seriously use one of these UJKLMNOP's (okay... I admit I don't actually remember the actual acronym...) for under my sewing machine, notorious misplacer-of-things that I am. Now that we have this extremely well-documented step-by-step, that should NOT be a problem. Thank you so much for putting this baby together. It, like its creator, is most excellent!

For today I'm Diggin' This Denim: Denim Boots by Leila Lamon and Stephan Bruce

Have a fine day! Tomorrow (that's Monday) there's a...

GIVEAWAY!!!

Drop-Dead Denim Special Guest: Nancy Minsky

I am both shocked and delighted to welcome a very special guest for Drop-Dead Denim today. I am also finding it quite difficult to capture this "Nancy Minsky" in a few introductory lines. It's virtually impossible. But... I can't not try, right? So here goes!

Originally from Portland, Oregon, a nucleus of art and craft, Nancy Minsky has had a life-long love affair with her sketchbook. Her innate need to produce art at every turn has led her to study a spectrum of art media from pottery to calligraphy to fashion, under a host of gifted teachers at numerous prestigious art and design schools including The Parsons School of Design in New York City. To name a few, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art alongside the great Diana Vreeland, was encouraged by Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel, and nurtured by Calvin Klein himself. She is an artist. She is a clothing designer. And she knows a teensy bit about old blue jeans having authored the book "Denim Revolution" and the blogs 21st Century Dressmakers and Jean Repair. Warmly welcome Ms. Nancy Minsky!

Unlike any other piece of clothing, blue jeans have this uncanny ability to live nine lives. They just adapt naturally to every spin and turn from childhood though adulthood. They make a statement about our individualism, our freedom, and our choices in life. We love our jeans like we love rock-n-roll, apple pie and long weekends. They start new, become old, need mending and patching, and finally morph into charming recycled crafts.

A pair of jeans travels a long journey filled with many fun and surprising paths. That journey begins as a "new" and prized possession - no matter if they were acquired as a pricey must-have or simply a hand-me-down.

As they wear, they seamlessly evolve, their texture and color growing softer, more comfy, familiar and cozy, beginning another life, that's like a well-traveled best friend.

The soft cotton yarn used to weave the denim eventually wears terribly thin with the washing and hard wearing, and holes and loose threads appear gradually, and then profusely. So, ultimately, with the passage of time, even a most favorite pair will end up forgotten and lost somewhere in the back of a closet.

But one day, unexpectedly, those "old" jeans catch our glance as we rummage around in the back of that closet... and instantly, the true blue jean memory flashes forward. A stream of wistful associations pours out about those long forgotten old blues - of events, places, or people - from a decade ago, from high school, or when you were another shape. Old blue jeans are the stuff of legends, and each of us has a unique and special story to muse over.

Filled with those memories and expectations you contemplate how to mend those old blues and a life begins anew. As you gently coax and churn your humble old jeans, with thought, sewing skills and integrity, improved and more durable "new" jeans are created.

All you need to mend and patch jeans is some industrious sewing, the proper tools and lots of tender loving care.

Mend your jeans with integrity - be true to your philosophy about your style and what appeals to you, or what scraps you have in your fabric bin.

Mend them with skill - you need your stitches to be as durable and beautiful on the inside as on the outside.

Mend them with pride and creativity - there are no rules. Conceive it like a beautiful and enduring quilt project (any mistakes will just add to the individualism.)

HERE are some useful sewing techniques about mending jeans.

And HERE is another link for those truly old and ragged jeans.

HERE are some general tips and details about hemming jeans on Scribd.

But if the fit of those jeans just doesn't cut it any longer, then give them an altogether new life and crop and trim them like joggers.

Or re-invent them into a poufy jean skirt (Denim Revolution project).

Or cut them up into new treasures. Little bits can be made into denim slippers...

Pincushions...

Or an apron for a little girl.

Dear Blue Denim knows no limits and adapts magically to every whim with style. One never tires from stitching this beautiful fabric. It's simply not a coincidence that old jeans live nine lives... and more!

Thank you Michele for your beautiful artistry, for your inspiration and for inviting me to participate in your month devoted to the true blue. Happy Denim Month to all!

Nancy

Thank YOU Nancy for being here. Wow! And also thank you for acknowledging our efforts to play and sew with old denim and our attempts to spread that excitement and fun across the Ether. It's been a huge honour and a joy having you. In fact, my door (or is it a portal?) is always open. Visit again anytime!

Oh and by the by, Denim Revolution by Nancy Minsky is reviewed HERE by me.

Today I'm Diggin' This Denim: The entire post above, by gum!

You have a lovely day, won't you? I'll see you again soon!