More repurposed denim

Denim parrot and oatmeal canister covered in decorated denim. All denim used is from worn out jeans.

Great ideas are coming in. Several readers have given us suggestions for more things to be made with used denim jeans. Also one reader emailed us about a TV antenna he built that was similar to the one we wrote about several weeks ago in this column.
The web site he referred to in making his antenna is at: http://vimeo.com/2931902?pg=embed&sec=.
The denim ideas suggested are:
One reader called and said her mother cut squares out of used jeans and made a quilt. In the past we had heard about others that did this so we tried one too. Then about half way through we decided it was too heavy for us but not all was lost. We made it into a dog bed which we wrote about in our Aug. 24, 2007 blog "Dog bed."
Another reader emailed this idea: "My favorite use for recycling jeans when my sons were young was to turn the best fabric left into bean bags. We then gave a half dozen or so to the older sibling of a new baby when we delivered a baby gift. My own boys loved trying to toss the bags into a big plastic bucket on rainy days."
We also found more ideas to make using denim. One is at: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/04/how-to_make_a_nature_can.html. It is an empty oatmeal canister covered with denim and decorated with felt cutouts. We made a similar one but used iron-on appliqués and various trims instead of the felt cutouts.
Next we came across a parrot pattern, Simplicity 3691, that suggested fleece fabric be used for their birds. We instead used denim.
Using denim was a little difficult to work with but it is doable. This was not a quick and easy project but if you really want one it does work. Fleece fabric is expensive and used denim is free. That made the difference for us.
Of course we never follow a pattern exactly. We started with view B and cut out all the pieces from blue denim except for the eye pieces. Those we cut from a used white twill pair of pants.
Next we sewed around the wing, tail and feet pieces about a fourth-inch in from the edge. Then we frayed the edges. The feet also have wire in them to make the bird stand up.
After machine sewing the bird body according to directions we attached the wings, tail and feet by hand. Then for the eyes we used a permanent black marker to draw the eyes and lines around the eyes.
This parrot is just for decoration and not a toy because of the wire used to make it stand up. But we found another child-friendly variation of this bird on the internet that used polyester fabric from outdated garments.
Pictures and explanations about changes are at: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=276223.0. They are changed to look a little more cartoonish.
Keep those ideas coming. It is fun to see and hear about what others are doing.