A Creative Adventure

Hello! My name is Amber. My fiancé and I are the creators of Bockies Boutique, a small handmade DIY business. If you like to do it yourself, we will show you how!

This will be my first story on Vocal.Media so bear with me.

In this article, I would like to tell you how to make one of our signature items!

Do you own an old pair of jeans? Do you have a favorite pair of jeans that may have seen better days? What if I told you it is possible to repurpose those jeans into an item that can keep track of all of your favorite memories and adventures?

If you're still reading, then I'll give you a list of all the items you will need in order to create your very own "Pocket Book," or simply a notebook out of your favorite cloth or denim.

1. A Pair of Jeans
2. Glue Gun
3. Cardstock
4. Scissors
5. A notebook (or paper if you want to create your own pages)
6. Exacto knife, regular knife, or box cutter

The idea of making a journal is simple, but it will take some practice and cooperation with the fabric in order to work properly.

• Step 1: Lay out the cardstock with the notebook on top.
• Step 2: Cut the cardstock (using a knife) with about a 1/2 inch border around the notebook. Feel free to use a ruler to get the exact dimensions or simply use the notebook as a guide as to where to cut. You now have the base for the back of the book.
• Step 3: Repeat step 2 for the front of the book.
• Step 4: Lay out the pair of jeans. Now, depending on the style of jeans, if the jeans have holes, or other unknown issues, this part can be tricky.
• Step 5: Cut off the bottom hem of one of the pant legs. Keep this for decorating the journal later.
• Step 6: Set the cardstock on the pant leg you just cut. Cut with about 1/2 inch of extra fabric around the cardstock.
• Step 7: Cut along the inner seam; this gives you a long length of fabric with a seam in the middle. This seam will be the back of your journal.
• Step 8: Set both pieces of cardstock onto the fabric with about a 1/2 inch or more of space between them. Ideally, you want the seam in the middle. The fabric won't be even, and that's okay. The fabric is stretchy and you can make it work the way you want it to. Just have faith.
• Step 9: Set the notebook on top of the card-stock on the right. Hold the fabric on the left to the card-stock and act as if you are closing the book. If you have any extra room, that is okay. You may have to readjust the cardstock in order for your book to close properly; just make sure you leave enough room, because we will be adding fabric to the inside which will take up space.
• Step 10: If you are comfortable with how your book will close, then use the hot glue gun to glue the back of the card stock to the jeans. Glue the excess fabric to the front of the card-stock, or cut the excess off. Just make sure that the edges of the card-stock are covered.
• Step 11: Back to the jeans. Cut the other pant leg as you did with the first.
• Step 12: Cut fabric to cover the remaining part of the cardstock. (Save the seams.)
• Step 13: Glue the notebook to the right side of the denim covered cardstock.
• Step 14: Cut out a pocket from the back of the pants and glue it onto the center of the front of the book.
• Step 15: Use seams (cut off extra fabric) to make a border on the inside and outside of your book. You can use them to cover any of the spots where you can see that you over the lapped fabric. This gives it a "sewn" appearance. You can also use one of the belt loops to make a pen holder.

You now have your very own Pocket Book! I hope you enjoyed this journal making experience. Thank you for reading!