Recycling Jeans Into Cute and Quirky Planters

If you’ve been looking for a quaint and quirky way to make use of those old jeans you just can’t wear any longer, we’ve come across a few brilliant projects but this is by far one of the best! After all, when was the last time you saw jeans made into fully functional planters for the garden?

As you probably know we’re all about creativity – something we’ve never seen before is always going to be something we fall in love with! That’s why when we found these planters we just had to share them with you – what better way of putting old jeans to new use around the home? Practical, unusual and fantastic for creating that wonderful whimsical feel that can really bring a garden to life, chances are you’ll never look at a pair of jeans the same again after putting together a few of these babies!

Materials / Tools:

• 1) Pair of grungy jeans, nothing hipster skinny, and nothing super long
• 2) 2′x2′ square of plywood… any hardware store like Home Depot will have these in the project wood section
• 3) 4 L Brackets
• 4) 3/4″ PVC Pipe… hardware stores sell by the 10′ or so. Have them cut you two pieces the length of the inseam of the pants plus 5″ so you won’t have any trouble fitting the pipe in the back of your chevelle.
• 5) 2 3/4″ PVC Elbows
• 6) PVC Primer and Cement… You need the purple primer stuff and the cement to make sure your pipe stays together. I suppose this part is optional, but its your fault if it falls apart during assembly.
• 7) Duct tape
• 8) 2-3 wire coat hangers, or 10ft of heavy armature wire.
• 9) 1 Tarp, I found a cheap 6′x8′ blue one for about 6 bucks.
• 10) strong needle, and strong thread.
• 11) Sewing Skills..
• 12) Staple gun
• 13) 2 cubic feet of potting soil (one large or two small bags)
• 14) 1 cubic foot of pea gravel (1 smallish bag)

Step 1. Using your jeans as a guide, make a pattern on the tarp to create a lining to fit inside your jeans. Denim is porous, and will seep to all hell if you don’t have a lining. I had Angel do this part and he took a coat hanger and sewed the lining over the hooped coat hanger.

Step 2. Stand your jeans up on the board, figure out the most natural stance and mark where the pants stand on the board. Drill holes on the pipe and attach the L brackets, and secure them on the board with screws. Make sure the brackets are installed like in the photos (front and back) or you’re going to have a hard time stabilizing the planter. While optional, I lashed the pipe to the bracket with duct tape to make sure they weren’t going anywhere.

Step 3. Measure the distance between the two pipes and cut a section of PVC about an inch or so short. Cement the PVC to the elbows and make sure the elbows point in the same direction as each other. Fit the liner and jeans over the two pipes, and then secure the elbowed section on top. I didn’t cement this section because it wasn’t that important, and I thought might need to take the jeans off if something went wrong.

Step 4. Using needle and thread, and the coat hangers/armature wires secure the jeans to the pipe. make sure you hook a bit of wire at the crotch and secure it to the pipe. the legs wille stand on their own, but you need to make sure that the waist of the jeans won’t sag or droop off.  Use a staple gun to tack the tarp lining to the board, and adjust the jeans to cover it all.

Step 5. Haul the pants planter to where you want it to live and split the pea gravel between the two legs. This will give the whole thing a strong base. Fill the rest up with potting soil, tamp it down, and add some more till you’ve reached the top.

Step 6. Plant your flowers, bury the board in mulch or whatever and enjoy your new denim garden!

The whole planter felt very sturdy, and and the liner will prevent seepage when you water your plants.

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