Making a Denim Quilt

You don't need a special quilt pattern to sew a denim quilt, often called a blue jeans quilt, but denim's heavy weight means that some quilting patterns are easier to assemble than others.

Blue jeans are usually made from heavier denim, while shirts and other garments are cut and stitched from lighter weight fabrics. The lighter weight your denim, the easier it will be to work with small quilt patches.

When you're working with heavy denim, stick to simple shapes like squares or bricks, but don't worry, because plain bricks and squares don't have to be boring:

1. Use different colors of denim in the quilt to achieve a dramatic difference from patch to patch.
2. Use plain denim for some patches and alternate them with a denim print.
3. Sew with blue denim patches of different shades or patches that are faded to different levels to get a subtle variation between quilt blocks.
4. Think about the different ways that ceramic tile is applied to floors and choose a similar arrangement for your denim quilt blocks.
5. Make a denim rag quilt, with seam allowances that are exposed and allowed to fray--like this easy rag quilt--it would be perfect sewn in denim.
6. Compare denim fabric and prices at fabrics.com.

Wash new denim fabric at least twice--more for a softer look and feel, and be sure to press denim before using it in a quilt.

Nearly everyone has at least a few pairs of old blue jeans, or maybe even a denim skirt, hanging in the closet, and it's easy to recycle them to make a blue jeans quilt. You don't generally get a lot of fabric from one pair of jeans, so build your stash by checking your local thrift shops for jeans that are soft and faded--but not totally worn out.

Look for bib overalls, too, especially kids overalls with cute bibs that would look great incorporated into a quilt block or used on the front of a denim tote or purse.

Wash the jeans and dry them. It can take forever to pluck the seams apart and doing that is not usually worth the effort for the small amount of fabric you'll gain, so grab a sharp pair of fabric scissors and cut out around the seams to remove the usable fabric.

Inspect the denim and discard fabric that's thin and stretched out of shape. Be sure to take a close look at the knees and seats, since those blue jean areas are prone to wear. Keep the back pockets and the fabric around them intact if you'd like to use them to adorn a few special blocks.

Now press all of your denim pieces and you're ready to cut patches for the quilt.

Most recycled denims tend to fray, so it's not a bad idea to sew large, plain blocks together with 1/2" seams. New, lightweight denims aren't as prone to fraying, so go ahead and use 1/4" seams if you're making blocks with smaller pieces.

Choose two simple shapes and sew them together in different ways, rather than using the same shape side by side.

Sew with cotton thread or purchase jeans thread--it's available in lots of colors. Use a special denim needle--refer to your sewing machine manual for suggestions. Some people like to set their machines to sew about 10-12 stitches per inch when working with denim--or 15 per inch or so if you're making a frayed edge quilt.

You'll find that a walking foot helps keep the edges of your denim fabric from shifting around as you sew.

Finishing a Denim Quilt

Denim is already heavy, even the lighter weight versions, so you might not need to add traditional batting to the quilt. Try flannel instead, or forget the batting and just add a backing. Flannel makes a good backing, too.

I doubt you'll want to hand quilt your denim quilts--it would take forever to get the needle in and out of the heavy layers. And casual denim looks great with simple machine quilting. Machine quilt your project using a walking foot and straight stitching. Consider adding large meander stitching to large areas to dress them up a bit.

You might also choose to tie the quilt with plain or decorative cotton yarns.

Binding a Blue Jeans Quilt

You usually can't get enough long pieces from recycled denim to make binding strips, and assembling short strips produces binding with lots of heavy seam allowances to mar your edges.

New denim and heavy cotton twill are both good binding options. The two layers of a doublefold binding will help keep the edge intact.

Denim is a wonderful, casual fabric that looks great no matter whether it's sewn together in structured blocks or random pieces. Experiment with denims to see what works best for you and remember, there are no "rules."