Ever since I saw the beautiful jean quilts my mom’s friend makes, I have been saving up all my ratty old pairs of jeans.  The thing is, I’m not much of a seamstress.  The last time I used a sewing machine was in 1992.

But I do love the idea of keeping my old denim jeans out of the landfill. And I love the idea of turning them into something new and useful.  Since I was getting tired of my old pair of wooden coasters, and while it’s easy, I’m not a fan of fixing water spots on furniture, I decided to make denim coasters using a couple of pairs of old jeans.

How to Make Denim Coasters

Making denim coasters is really pretty easy.  I used a pair of jeans with a 28″ inseam to make one coaster.  If you have longer legs, you’ll make a bigger coaster.  If you have shorter legs, you may have to use a couple of pairs of jeans.

You’ll also need some fabric glue.  I used Liquid Stitch, which dries clear and is machine washable once it’s dry.

Directions:

Using a pair of sharp scissors, cut out the inseam on your jeans.  I started at the bottom of one leg and cut up to the crotch area.  Then did the same on the other leg, and then cut out the crotch.  I cut on the other side of the inseam in the same way, so that I had one long cord of denim fabric.   (And a pair of crotchless jeans with no leg seams!)   If you want a larger coaster (or have shorter legs!) and you want to use more than one cord of denim fabric, I recommend stitching the two cords together so they don’t come apart.

Once you have the denim cord,  place the finished side down, and apply a thin stripe of fabric glue to an 8-inch section of the denim cord.

Slowly and carefully coil the denim cord, adding glue as you go.  Make sure you create a tight coil that will lay flat when you are done.

Add a bit of extra glue on the end of your coil so that it stays in place, and wipe off any excess glue.

Let the denim coaster dry for a couple of hours and then it’s ready to use.

This is a really simple project and it looks nice on your coffee table. And it will protect that table from hot drinks on cold days and cold drinks on hot days.

I’m saving the rest of the jeans for some more denim projects (like a jean quilt!) I’ll tackle in the future, but for now, I’m enjoying my new denim coasters.