Picture Felicity: Recycle Day

Today is recycle day and I always forget put my recycle bin on the street, so it’s a good thing I have a very kind neighbor that has done it for me since I moved in. So, in an attempt to remember to accomplish this tedious task and possibly return the favor to my neighbor Tuesday will now be the day for recycled projects.

In an attempt to expunge my closet of holey clothing I managed to simply rearrange its contents and add some more old jeans to the mix. With this multitude of jeans that I could not/ would not ever wear and my unexplainable attachment to them I decided to repurpose them.

Old Jean Use No. 1: A New Pair of Shoes.

Trace the bottom of a pair of flats onto the jeans, cutting out two left soles and two right soles. Then trace the soles onto a cardboard box, making sure the cardboard is ¼ inch narrower than the jean soles. Sandwich the cardboard sole between the two jean soles, wrong sides together, and sew around the entire perimeter.

Create the body of your shoe by cutting an oval around the hole in the jean leg where the sole was cut. It will look like an odd shaped doughnut. The doughnut should be cut at the point right behind the ankle, where most flats have a seam.

Sew the end of the oval, right sides together on the front portion of the soles, the area that will cover the toes. Pull the thread on either side of the seam to synch jean oval around the toe section. Then sew the sides of the oval to the sole, wrong sides together, stopping at the point where the side of the shoe will be directly under your ankle bone.

Cut two belt loops from the pair of jeans, making sure they are the same size. Sew the belt loop on the heel of each sole, with right sides together.

Add colorful fabric or ribbon and sew it on the end of each side of the jean shoe. Thread said fabric through the belt loop, tie around the ankle and you’ve got yourself a pair of legit homemade shoes.

Word of Warning: Don't get caught in these shoes during a rain storm (or just a light sprinkling)!