It is finally finished! I have been slogging away at this quilt in very little bits. I lost my steam once the top was complete. Piecing is always my favorite part – once that is done I often wander off in different directions.
Since denim is so heavy, I just layered it with some flannel for the back. I wanted a nice plaid flannel, but I don’t have any now, and the name of the game here was stash reduction. So, we have some tubing frogs, and some coordinating solids. A little cutesy, but warm and cozy. Beauty feels that Oscar is getting too much publicity on the blog.
I did a very minimal job on quilting this one. I did not want to attempt free motion on the denim, for two reasons. I didn’t want to compete with the graphic pattern, and I like my face in one piece. Exploding needles are scary. I did stitch in the ditch along the black lines, in the longest straight lines possible. It is a pain moving the top through my domestic machine, so I lost interest fairly quickly and bound it. If it starts to have fraying problems in the future I may revisit the quilting.
Hubby slept under it for several weeks before I finally took it off of the bed to bind it. He demands weighted blankets to help him sleep. The silly man developed this habit back when I was making weighted blankets for kids with developmental disorders. The denim did the trick. He will be happy to have it back on the bed tonight, with a nicely finished edge.
So, a quick recap.
- Pattern available from Lucy’s Quilts (non affiliate link).
- I had a ton of denim before, I still have a ton now. This used maybe 4 pairs of mens jeans.
- It goes together easily, looks like a million bucks.
- Denim is fun to work with.
Thank you to my friend Ellie, who motivated me to get off of my butt and finish this off today. That was probably not her intention, but it worked.
And here is Oscar, helping me get the binding on mostly straight.
Wonderful job Jennifer! I love a heavy quilt as well!
This is great! Loving all the denim colors and the pattern is perfect!
This has turned out wonderfully …. as you say denim really is a dream to work with not sure why it frightens some people! I have made two denim quilts and back one with a wool flannel and one with cord and the weight of them is gorgeous!
I love the look of this! It has me itching to break out all the pants I’ve been saving for just such a quilt…
Do it! It really is easy, and looks so great with little effort.
You need a loom by the sound of it. Denim rag rugs look amazing. Oscar’s a cutie btw.
I just saved that quilt on Pinterest. We are doing a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired quilt challenge at Guild. Thought this might be a starting point. Great to see it pieced.
I enjoyed reading about your experience working with denim. Recently, I tried my hand at up cycling some jeans and ran across this pattern. I ended up just making three improv pillow covers, but I used strips from shirts between the denim pieces to reduce the bulk between the seams.
Thank you so much! I have a new idea about how to speed it up. I have to do some test pieces before I put anything up.