-Brother Sews Blogger

Time to complete: 1-2 Hours

It’s always nice to give the gift of “handmade” and with the holiday season always on the mind of a maker, it’s time to get started on your seasonal sewing projects.

During the festive holiday season many of us will attend parties and, as we know, it’s customary to bring a gift for your hosts.

One of the most popular holiday party gifts is wine. So if you are stocking up on wine to bring to all your events, you will need to add something handmade to go along with it. This is a super easy project using recycled denim jeans and your Brother embroidery machine. Adding a handmade wine bottle sleeve to your gift is thoughtful and it offers the perfect presentation to make your gift a cut above the rest. Plus, you’ll probably be asked back to the next party too!

Let’s talk about recycling denim.

It’s wonderful to donate gently used clothing items like denim jeans but if you have a pair that don’t quite fit the description of gently used, it’s a wonderful idea to repurpose the fabric. Repurposing the fabric gives those denim jeans a second life; a beautiful, new purpose instead of ending up in the garbage.

There are so many ways to repurpose old denim and your Brother Ambassadors have got you covered, just search for more on the Stitching Sewcial(Opens in a new tab) blog.”

To make this one-of-a-kind wine bag, follow these simple instructions and repurpose an old pair of denim jeans into handmade gift.

Supplies:

• Brother sewing and embroidery(Opens in a new tab) machine
• A pair of old jeans (or denim scraps using the top portion of the pants)
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Decorative ribbon

Let’s start by cutting the jeans to get the top portion that we will use in the project. Typically, we use the legs of old jeans for other sewing projects but now it’s time to use the top portion. If you have been saving your scraps, you may already have the top portion ready to go.

If you are starting from scratch, simply cut the legs off your denim jeans and, of course, save the leg scraps for later.

The measurement from the waist down should be about 13-14” or long enough to cover over a bottle.

Next, cut the top part of your jeans down the middle in half.

Be sure to cut off the zipper and the rivets.

You will use the waistband, belt loops, and pockets for the final look.

Fold the piece lengthwise so the waistband lines up to create the long edge. Note, the shape you are using already has curves so after you line up the waistband the side seams may not line up perfectly but that’s okay, just cut your side and bottom edges straight to form a rectangle.

The good news is you can make two wine bags from one pair of jeans.

Now, select a design to embroider on the front pocket area of the denim. You can choose from the many designs already built into your Brother embroidery machine or go to ibroidery.com(Opens in a new tab) for more. You can also create your own designs with the Brother PE design & digitizing software.

Using stabilizer and a small hoop, secure the denim fabric in the frame. It’s important to use enough stabilizer to exceed all four edges of the hoop. Also note, the stabilizer and denim piece with its inside pocket will have ample thickness so check to make sure all the excess fabric from the pocket is pushed aside and the frame tightening screw is loosened all the way. It will make it much easier to press the hoop rings together.

Start the embroidery process adding your design.

Once it is finished remove the fabric from the hoop and takeoff the stabilizer. Tearing or cutting away the excess.

To assemble the bag, fold the denim piece lengthwise with right sides together, lining up the waistband and long raw edge.

Sew the bottom and side, you will be sewing an L-shape here.

Clip the corners or if you prefer a finished edge, serge the raw edges for a clean look.

You now have a denim bag!

Turn the bag right side and insert your bottle.

Add the decorative ribbon through the belt loops and tie it closed with a bow syncing the top.

Bonus gift-giving tip, slip your homemade card into the back pocket and even a bottle opener into the front pocket.

You are finished. A simple and clever way to add some handmade to your holiday gift! This bottle bag will work for more than just wine, you can gift homemade bubble bath, sodas, paperback books, magazines, or even a poster rolled in a tube, or simply use it as a gift bag and drop items into the main bag and all the pockets.

This is a great way to repurpose old denim and give the gift of handmade. Now it’s your turn to get creative.