How To Make Hanging Denim Baskets With Embroidery Hoops

I first made these handy hanging denim baskets with embroidery hoops about 15years ago. A long time before I started blogging.

I created them for the kid’s room to store their action figures in. The fact the embroidery hoop keeps the denim baskets open at the top made them easy to use for my small boys.

The hoops also enabled the baskets to be hung up easily. I put little hooks on the edge of their beds, so they could hang them and have all their favourite little toys nearby.

Now my boys have all grown up, the only thing they have by their beds these days are their phones. I actually made a handy denim iPhone pocket pillow for them.

I still use these hanging denim baskets, they now live in my craft room. Which actually happens to be my eldest son’s old bedroom. They are really handy for storing little bits and pieces.

One of the best things about these denim baskets is their portability. I use them to store small crafts I have on the go, such as crochet granny squares. I can easily unhook the denim hanging baskets from my pegboard and then carry them around with me when crafting on the go.

The hanging denim storage baskets are made from upcycling the legs of old jeans. I also line mine with scrap fabric too. Just to add a bit of colour, but this is optional. They are very quick, affordable and easy to make.

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What You Need To Make Denim Buckets

The legs of old jeans. Preferably, straight-legged jeans and not skinny jeans.
The fabric of your choice for lining
Wooden embroidery hoops – these should be approximately the width of the leg of the jeans you will use. I found that embroidery hoops 17cm (6.5″) work well with most jeans. If the denim you use is stretch then you will have a bit more flexibility in the size of the hoop needed.
Needle and thread – there is not a tremendous amount of sewing so these can be stitched either by machine or hand.
Fabric scissors and ruler

How To Make The Upcycled Hanging Denim Baskets

1. First make sure that you have the right sized embroidery hoop for the jeans you will upcycle. The leg of the jeans should easily fit around the outside of the inner wooden hoop.

Don’t worry if you already have bought a hoop that is slightly too big. You might just have to do some extra sewing and make your own tube of denim that fits, instead of using the leg as it is.

2. Next, decide how deep you would like the hanging baskets to be. Mine were about 20-25cm. Turn the leg inside out, then cut the end of the leg of the jeans to this length (allowing for 1cm seam).

3. Next, stitch up the unhemmed end of the jeans to form a denim bucket. Then, turn the sewn leg right side out.

4. Next, make the liner with the fabric of your choice. Cut a piece of fabric to the same dimensions of the denim basket. Iron, fold and sew a small hem on the top one of the long sides of the fabric.

5. Then, fold over the fabric lengthways so that the right sides meet with the hem at the top. Then, sew up the side and bottom of the fabric.

6. For the next stage of constructing the hanging denim baskets place this fabric liner inside the denim bucket, you made earlier. (Keep the liner inside out).

placing the inner bag into the denim leg

7. Finish off the denim hanging baskets by adding the embroidery hoops. Wrap the open end of the inner fabric and denim bucket over the inside embroidery hoop. Then, add the outer ring of the hoop and screw it shut.

adding the inner hoop to hanging denim baskets

The hanging denim baskets are now ready to fill and hang. They screw on the outer embroidery hoop provide a convenient loop to hang the buckets from.

You can make two baskets from one pair of jeans, one from each leg.

It’s easy to make larger upcycled denim hanging baskets. All you would need is larger embroidery hoops and to stitch your own denim tubes, instead of using the legs of old jeans.

Don’t forget to check out some of my other upcycled denim storage ideas for the home.

Upcycled Blue Jean Rugs