DIY Fourth of July Garland with Denim Tassels

Jeans are my uniform.  I LOVE denim, and wear jeans almost every day (except in the horrible heat and humidity of Tokyo summers).  This means that I eventually wear out a lot of jeans.  I’ve had a few pairs sitting in my fabric bag, waiting to be put to good use.  I hated to throw them away, since I’m a hoarder denim is so expensive.  But what could I do with them (besides make a super cool jeans purse that I would have totally dug when I was 11)?  

The Fourth of July isn’t a big holiday here in Japan, as you can imagine, so I usually make my own decorations. And what’s more patriotic than blue jeans?  Add the current tassel trend, and my worn out jeans got new life as a DIY Fourth of July garland.

What you’ll need:
Red felt, enough for 5 stars
A star pattern (find a star shape on your computer or online and print it out to approximately 5 inches tall
A marker 
Scissors
An old pair of jeans
A tape measure
A glue gun
Ribbon or string for the garland, about 4 feet long

What to do:

1. Trace the star pattern onto the red felt.  Cut out 5 stars.  Cut 2 parallel slits in the top of one point of the star.  We’re going to string the ribbon through these slits, so make them just slightly longer than the ribbon is wide.

2. Cut off one leg of the jeans.  Cut the leg horizontally into pieces about 7 inches long.  Turn the pieces inside out, and cut off the outseam edge and set aside (the edge lined with stitching, usually about 1 inch wide).  Cut off the other seam and discard.  You should now have 2 pieces of flat denim and a seam.  Cut the flat pieces to roughly 7×7 inch squares, reserving any trimmed pieces.

3. Now we’ll draw the lines to cut the fringe.  Draw a parallel line 1 inch from one edge of the square.  Mark every 1/2 inch along this line.  Mirror those marks on the opposite edge of the square, and connect the dots to draw a series of about 14 lines at a 90 degree angle from the original line.  Cut these 14 lines to create the fringe, stopping at the 1 inch mark. 

4. To make the tassel, apply a 1-inch strip of hot glue along the uncut portion of the fringe.  Roll the fabric tightly to glue it into place.  Continue to apply glue 1 inch at a time and roll, until you’ve created a tassel.  Cut a portion of your scrap denim into a 2 inch x 1/2 inch strip.  Glue the ends of this strip onto the top of the tassel to create a loop (we’ll thread the ribbon through this loop to string the tassel on the garland). Cut a piece of the reserved outseam (from step 2) into a strip long enough to wrap around the top of the tassel to create a clean, finished look.  Glue the strip around the tassel.  Repeat until you have 6 tassels.

5. Alternating tassels and stars, string them on the ribbon to create a patriotic garland.  Trim the tassels to a length that you like (I cut mine down to about 5 inches long).