This step-by-step guide shows you how to make a tool belt from blue jeans.
How to Make a Tool Belt From Blue Jeans
Anybody who’s done any carpenter work at all knows the value of a good tool belt for keeping nails, screws, to measure, hammer, square, and other items separate and accessible. “It’s senseless to spend $2.00, $4.00, or more on a store bought work apron, however,” says Bull Wilson of La Mesa, California, “when you can make a perfectly serviceable one yourself . . .
for nothing! Bull’s secret? He fabricates his work aprons from — you guessed it — worn out blue jeans. Here’s how:
STEP 1: Cut the legs off a snug-fitting pair of old Levi’s, the same as you would do to make shorts.
STEP 2: Cut along the leg seams and remove the front half of the “shorts,” but leave the waistband intact. Then remove (and save) the belt loops.
STEP 3: Hem the apron’s edges and patch any holes that might exist in the former jeans’ back pockets. Sew a couple pairs of belt loops together edgewise, attach them to one or both sides of the apron to act as hammer (or square) holders . . . and you’re done!
Linda Brock (wife of MOTHER staff Travis Brock) made a blue denim tool apron from Bull Wilson’s instructions not long ago . . . and we can vouch for its serviceability. Fact is, we’d even go so far as to say that if there’s dandier way to keep tools and nails in order while doing carpentry work we haven’t seen it!
