DIY upcycled denim napkins
am i alone here or can you never have enough pretty serving ware?! like honestly i don’t even host dinner parties (especially these days), yet i cannot ever resist a cute wood cheeseboard or tablecloth.
so when esurance challenged me to have #madeitmine and upcycle something with meaning, i immediately knew i wanted to make a set of napkins since the holidays are coming up. and what better to use than my old maternity jeans (don’t worry, i am planning on having a second baby, but this pair was never my favorite). you know these are no-sew too, ain’t no one got time to ever learn to sew. (ugh someday i will)
while you can easily spend all your money on all sorts of pretty new things for your holiday table, this is an easy way to save money and i love that i now have the story behind them for my guests of what they once were.
materials
old jeans*
sharp scissors
spray bottle
bleach
*i used my maternity jeans and a pair of gids he never wears that were exactly the same wash
directions
01. cut your jean legs off, a larger pair of jeans obviously can make for larger/more napkins, so keep that in mind when cutting. cut along the side seam to open them up. depending on the size napkin you want, cut them in half or keep each leg as one napkin.
02. once you’ve cut them, lay the denim flat and correct the angles to be straight rectangles.
03. you can skip this next step, but i added a pattern with bleach. add some bleach to a spray bottle and take your napkins outside. first, use some of your scrap denim to test out spray patterns. once you’re comfortable, spray your napkins! i did a very light mist on each one and rinsed in cold water after one minute. you can vary this obviously, you can also dilute your bleach with water if you want a slower process.
04. once they’re rinsed out, throw them in the washing machine (without detergent) and the dryer. then do it again but with detergent this time.
05. once you remove from the dryer, your edges will be crazy frayed, trim the strays off and you’re left with a cool frayed edge that i love.
It is a rather unusual idea to use the old jeans for this purpose. The ready-made napkins will be a wonderful addition to the dining table as a kind of decor.
The details are very important. Thank you very much for such an article where it turns out that you can do unusual things from basic things.This thing will make dinner unforgettable!
The most ordinary things turn out to be at hand, but who knew that from this you can make a detail that will be remembered for the whole dinner. Thank you for this article, this is a really interesting life hacking, and we are waiting for further articles.
I have been saving some old jeans and trying to figure out what to do with them. what a great and easy idea!
Do you think with blue jeans with an orange seam, that it’s better to have the seam running down the napkin, or just use the cloth without the seam?
If we can ever get back to having dinner parties, do you think any guests would be put off by the use of jeans as a napkin?