Now that it is summer time I can’t live without my sunglasses. I tote them everywhere I go. We’ve all made our own pair of jean cutoffs, but what do you do with all the extra fabric? Waste not, want not as our grandmothers taught us. Why not turn the excess denim into a stylish sunglass clutch?

Project Steps

Take the remnants of your old, favorite pair of jeans and lay the leg out flat. Measure about 2 inches down. Fold seam-end over to create a flap and pin it down to stabilize.

Measure 2 inches down from the bottom of flap you just created and draw a line. NOTE: Make sure your sunnys fit.

Grab your needle and thread. To make your case extra secure I recommend quadrupling the thread. Measure out a long length of thread (about an arm’s length). Fold in half to double. Thread the 2 ends through the needle’s eye. Pull through and knot the end.

Sew along the line with a straight stitch (in and out). Make sure the stitches are close together. At the end, double knot the thread and cut the excess.

To create your fringed section, measure two inches down from the stitched line and cut.

Then cut about ½ inch slits up to the sewn line (not past it, otherwise you will cut into your case) as your “fringe” along the side.

Grab your hex nut and place it slightly beneath the folded edge and mark with chalk where you want it to be placed.

Grab your needle and thread again. Take an arm’s span of thread and cut. Feed one end of the thread through the eye and then knot the two ends together.

Un-pin the top fold and sew the hex nut in the standing up position where marked, but make sure you only are sewing through the front panel! Knot the end inside the glasses case and cut.

Inside the top flap use the same double thread technique and loop through the material a couple of times to secure the thread down. Make sure you end with your needle head facing you on the outside, not the inside. Knot the stitch in place, but do not cut yet!

Measure 5 inches down the string and cut.

Slide your bead on, knot, and cut excess.

You did it! You can now loop the bead through the hex nut a few times as a secure closure to your one-of-a-kind fringe sunglass case! Personalize your clutch like I did by adding hex nuts!