DIY Denim Flowers from old jeans * Moms and Crafters

Denim is one of my favorite materials to upcycle, and I’ve been crafting a lot with it lately. Today I have for you these super-easy DIY denim flowers from my toddler’s old overalls. Stay tuned – I have lots more coming with denim soon!

I made these denim flowers with both Spring and my nieces in mind. I thought it would be pretty to make something simple, shabby chic, but really pretty.

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I haven’t yet made practical use of these, but I thought they would look great on a barrette or alligator clip (you’ll need to make it smaller than I did for that), on a hairband, or even glued onto a baby bodysuit! Cover up those stains…

I used an old pair of overalls that used to belong to M. The snaps were broken and the style was a bit old, so I didn’t bother passing it on to someone else. Instead, I threw it in with my crafting supplies. For this one, I also pulled out another pair of old overalls made from a darker denim. That one had a nice inside as well, so I got three beautiful tones of denim.

For the buttons, I used assorted ones from the “button jar”, plus one that I pulled off the buckle of the overalls. Of course, this is a no-sew project (you know I love those…)

I assembled it using my handy glue gun. Since these denim flowers are made of very porous materials, they should stick well using a glue gun. However, if you’d like it to be extra secure, you can try using E6000 glue. It takes longer to dry (which is why I didn’t use it) but tends to glue things basically forever.

I like the “purposely frayed” edges and would have made them worse if I had the patience, but I’ll just give it time… If you don’t have different colors of denim to play with, you can get creative, backing it on felt to set the layers apart (or do a center layer with a different stiff fabric).

What you need to make recycled denim flowers:

Old jeans
Burlap ribbon (or cut burlap to size)
Buttons
Glue gun
Good scissors
Chalk/chalk marker/something else to mark with (even a felt tip pen can work)

How to make denim flowers from old jeans:

1. Mark three sizes of uneven circles on your denim (the side you won’t be using)

2. Cut them out. Don’t worry about uneven sides – those make it look better.

3. Stack them up and glue together, making sure you have some sort of contrast. I had a lighter denim, a darker one, and flipped over some of the dark ones for another shade.

4. Fold a piece of burlap ribbon. You can do a double leaf by folding the two sides of a longer piece toward the center, or a single one by folding it in half. Glue in the center, but leave the loop loose.

5. Glue the leaf to the back, and a button to the center.

That’s all! It’s rare to have an upcycled craft that is so totally giftable, but, due to denim’s durability, it can be easily added to headbands, clips, and more and turned into wonderful gifts to give.