With our easy guide, you can learn how to create stylish pom-pom denim flowers from upcycled jeans. These handmade flowers are perfect for eco-friendly crafts and add a unique touch to home decor and fashion accessories.

Updated June 2024

My house is full of flowers and plants, both natural and faux. I love to reflect nature in my home decor, a theme of my crafts and upcycles. Here, I’ve made pom-pom jeans flowers from repurposed denim scraps.

I have previously made a denim flower bouquet, but these were based on roses. Roses are a popular theme with my flower crafts; I’ve also made old map roses and sweater felt roses. This time, I decided to try another type of flower made of jeans scraps.

I’m unsure what plant these pom-pom jeans flowers represent in nature; they remind me of thistles. It doesn’t matter, though, as I love them on my mantle.

I’ve also made fabric sunflowers from denim to wear as a corsage.

Repurposing Jeans into Flowers

I’m a big fan of repurposing old jeans for home decor. The easiest denim crafts are no-sew jeans upcycles. Though this jeans upcycle requires a small amount of sewing, it could just as quickly be a non-sew project. The sewing can be replaced with some strategic fabric glue.

The whole craft is affordable, as with many of my crafts, it is an upcycle of waste fabric. It is a very straightforward and fun upcycle.

I made five of these pom-pom jeans flowers in various shades of denim. One of the beauties of upcycling old jeans is showing off the shades of indigo they come in, and I think that works well with these flowers.

Secondly, I prefer items in odd numbers in interiors, as I think this adds interest and is visually more appealing.

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What You Need

• Scraps of denim from old jeans.
• Garden wire or wire from an old coat hanger
• Sewing machine or needle and thread or fabric glue
• Leaf template
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors, rotary cutter and mat.

How To Make Denim Thistle Flowers

Step 1: First, cut the jeans scraps into long strips. The strips should be about 8cm wide and at least 40cm long. The longer the strip of denim, the bigger the thistle jeans flower.

I cut the denim from several pairs of jeans in shades of indigo. However, you can just use the same pair of jeans if you want flowers in the same shade of blue. You need one of these strips per flower.

Step 2: Next, fold the long strip of denim half lengthways, then stitch along the bottom edge to hold the fold in place. The strip should be folded so that the wrong sides are touching.

Top tip: If you do not want to do any sewing, glue the two edges to hold the fold in place.

Step 3: Then, with scissors, cut into the crease of the folded denim strip. The cuts should be about 5-6mm wide and 2cm long. Cut along the whole length of the strip of denim.

Step 4: Cut the wire about 30cm long; this will be the stem. Using a glue gun, stick one end of the cut denim strip to the end of the wire.

Then, wind the denim strip around the wire and secure the end with hot glue.

Step 5: The base of these jeans flowers looks unsightly, so I made some leaves to tidy it up. I used denim in a different shade of indigo for the leaves and a stem for the flower.

Using the leaf template, cut out two pieces of denim. Either glue these pieces’ wrong sides together or pin them and then stitch them together. I sewed my leaves.

Step 6: Cut a small hole in the middle of the denim leaves. Then, thread this through the wire stem. Use hot glue to secure the leaves to the base of the wrapped jeans flower.

Step 7: Finish the flowers by covering the wire stem. Cut a strip of denim about 1cm wide and 30cm long. Wrap this around the exposed wire stem and secure it with hot glue.

Repeat the steps with different shades of denim to create a bunch of jeans flowers. The wire stem is flexible, enabling the flowers to be bent, which helps with their display.

The jean’s flowers look fabulous in a vase on the mantle. I will make more without the stem as a decorative broach for my jacket and as a fun present topper.

I liked the mason jar vase on the mantle for these denim thistles, as you can see the stem. But I think these jeans flowers would look great in the Shibori indigo planters and jean planter I made. They also looked good next to the denim bunnies I made for my mantle.

Also, denim and leather are always a good combo, so I could put some in my leather Boho vase.

As well as faux fabric flowers, I make fake plants such as sweater felt cacti and plastic bottle succulents. Jean scraps are fun to repurpose into other nature-themed crafts, such as denim feathers and faux moths taxidermy.

Check out these denim poppy seed heads, which are also fun to make with repurposed jeans scraps.

These pom-pom flowers made from old jeans were featured in the A to Z of clever upcycling crafts and resources. Here are more fabric flower DIYs.