My son needed a handy storage organizer for little things. He wanted somewhere close to hand to store his headphones, watches and other small personal items. I designed this handy denim pocket organizer to hang above his bed.

What better place than a pocket to store those personal things you want close at hand?

I keep all the family’s old jeans to upcycle and repurpose. I love working with old denim; I love the different shades of indigo and the different styles.

The denim pocket organizer is one upcycled jeans project which shows off all the different colours and styles of jeans. The organizer also looks pretty cool on the wall. To complement this organizer’s rustic, upcycled look, I used a wooden branch to hang it from.

Also, as I used the family’s old jeans for this denim pocket organizer, my son recognized a few pockets from his old jeans.

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Upcycle old jeans into a great Denim pocket organizer

What You Need To Make a Jeans Pocket Organiser

• Lots of old jeans
• Sewing machine, with needle suitable for denim
• Scissors
• Pins
• Thread
• Wooden branch or stick

How To Made A Denim Pocket Organiser

Step 1: First, cut out the pockets from your jeans, don’t forget to allow for a seam edge of approx. 1cm. I used 16 front and back pockets for this denim pocket organizer.

2. Layout your pockets in 4 rows of 4, and rearrange until you are happy with the design. Jeans pockets come in various shapes and sizes, don’t worry about your arrangement being a neat rectangle; you will be able to straighten up the edges later when you add a waistband border. I love the irregularities of the pockets.

3. Once you are happy with your design, pin the pockets next to each other right sides together in each row, leaving a seam of about 1cm. Then using a sewing machine with a needle suitable for heavy denim work, sew these pockets together. You should now have four rows of sewn pockets.

4. Next, pin the right sides together with the top row of pockets to the second row and the third row of pockets to the bottom row. Sew these rows together again, allowing for a seam edge. Make sure all your pockets are going to be the right way up before you begin sewing, as this is an easy mistake.

Then, pin these two denim pieces right sides together and sew.

5. Cut four whole waistbands from your jeans for the next part. Don’t cut right along the waistband edge; you want to allow for a seam. I like to keep buttons, buttonholes, and leather labels on the waistband, as I feel these add interest to the pocket organizer.

Pin and sew these waistbands around the four edges of your organizer so that it evens up the edges.

Suppose you are struggling to straighten up your edges due to pocket irregularities. In that case, you can always make small denim patches to even up your organizer (these add character to the project).

6. To make the denim loops, you need to cut more waistbands from your jeans. This time I cut the waistband right to the seam edge of each band. You will need six strips of close-cut waistband approximately 20 cm in length.

7. Fold these loops in half pin along the back of the top band of the organizer. One loop at each end of the organizer and the remainder evenly spaced between.

Sew these loops in place. Due to the multiple layers of denim, your sewing machine may struggle with sewing these loops in the area. If this is the case, sew them by hand; this shouldn’t take long.

7. Finally, cut a wooden branch so that it is at least 20cm longer than the top of your pocket organizer. Thread the branch through the hoops and hang. I used two hooks in the wall to rest the branch on.

All that is left to do is to fill the pockets of the denim pocket organizer with all your favourite little things.

 

I love the rugged look of this denim pocket organizer and the fact that it is made from the family’s old jeans. It is handy; my son loves using the pockets for all his little bits and pieces.

I loved this pocket organizer so much that I made another one with 25 pockets and numbers stencilled on the pockets to use as a handmade advent calendar. The best thing about this version of a denim pocket organizer is that it is no-sew.

If you are looking for an even more straightforward way to use the pockets from your old jeans for storage, then you should check out these cute embroidered hanging pocket storage I made for my craft room. Or make a cool iPhone denim pocket pillow for your teen.

Another great way to use denim pockets is to make these cute applique heart gift bags.

There are many other ways you can repurpose jeans in your home decor. Don’t forget to check out my denim page.

• DIY Storage Box Using Denim
• Waistband Denim Rug
• Denim Hanging Mason Jar Vase
• Denim Handmade Dog Toys

These jeans upcycle featured under the letter J in the A to Z of upcycling resources.

For more stylish upcycled storage solutions, check out these map magazine holders.