Save a buck: Reuse old jeans

Pairing up: Here’s a nifty way to recycle old jeans from Kathleen Shafer, a teacher at Marysville Middle School. She turns them into sturdy blankets to toss down on the grass at soccer games or a picnic, or stash in the car for emergencies.

Cut the legs and bottom hem off the castoff pair, tear the legs into strips and sew the strips together. Voila — a blanket.

You can sew the strips together the fancy way using french or felled seams (shown on jeans at right). Or take the easy way out: Put the wrong sides of the strips together, fringe one edge and top stitch down the right side next to the fringe. Continue adding strips and when the blanket’s big enough for you, fringe the outside edges as well. The back of the blanket will be nice and flat, Shafer says.