Hallyu Water Bottle Holder Progress!

Since my last post I have been making steady progress towards completing my upcycling project!

I have stayed true to my original vision of upcycling my old (ripped) pair of jeans into a water bottle sling that can hold my 64oz (or maybe even my 128oz) plastic water bottle. As I have only done some really small hand-sewing work, I have never learned how to properly sew or use a sewing machine. Since this project requires some sewing, I took the sewing workshop that is offered through the Idea Forge and found some tutorials on YouTube that I can follow for upcycling jeans into water bottle holders/slings. The featured image is a screenshot from a YouTube tutorial by @remakeitawesome that I plan on following for guidance [1]. I will most likely need to alter certain dimensions to accommodate my larger bottle, but the video was very helpful in showing me how I can cut and stitch the jeans.

I spent time brainstorming and sketching out a design concept that hopefully reflects the light and dark elements commonly associated with K-pop fans’ concert outfits. What I have planned is to use half of the back side of the jeans to be the “light” side and the other half to be the “dark” side. Both sides will include charms, lace, and ribbon, which are all common elements related to the Hallyu aesthetic. The “light” side willl use pastel fabric and paints whereas the “dark” side will be primarily black with some darker tones. I tried to include some sketches that I plan on painting on the fabric that directly reference some of my favorite K-pop groups. The side profile is a rough depiction of using ribbon in a criss-cross pattern to further decorate the holder.

 

I was also able to obtain the materials I need to officially begin the project. These materials included fabrics (lilac and maroon), ribbons (black and white), lace (black and white), string, and an assortment of acrylic paints (purple, pink, blue, white, black, red). I was also able to find a pendant, pearls, and a charm that seemed to fit the aesthetic I am trying to achieve.

One thing that I was a little concerned about was whether I could really bleach the black jeans enough to obtain a white-ish tone. So I plan on testing out a small piece of the jeans to see what the final shade is. If I am not a big fan of the shade, then I planned on adding a bleached design on top to add to the cutesy vibe I am going for. I found a different YouTube tutorial from @trinity163 that showed how to bleach hearts onto pants and thought that could work well for the “light” side [2]. The short reel can be watched via the link referenced below, but a general idea of what pants look like while being bleached is shown on the left and what the finished product resembles is shown on the right.

 

I am excited to get started on starting to cut up the jeans… wish me luck!

Links to the original source for the pictures used:

[1]: https://youtu.be/j4H_1SvaMh4?si=jnjJq6nOOqhtE94-

[2]: https://youtube.com/shorts/bh-tWU6O0_Y?si=HHDFbVuIVNRyOeF_

[3]: https://pin.it/6n96PSIsH