Making Quilts with Denim

Hi, Guys! I feel like I start every post now apologizing for not posting more often. Life in the Strauser house has been a lot lately. I’ve been quilting and writing, though, and have lots to share with you. My latest project has been a denim quilt for AccuQuilt. I’ve been making denim quilts for years, and I love them. I’ll tell you what I’ve learned about working with denim over the years here, and you can check out the instructions for the actual quilt on the AccuQuilt blog.

This is the quilt I made for AccuQuilt. It uses the same basic technique from my Denim Mondrian that I made so, so long ago. I sash all the blocks with non-denim, to prevent having to stitch through multiple layers. Rather than having a lot of different block shapes, I used two squares and a rectangle from my 9″ Qube, along with the 1″ strip cutter to make a more regular repeating pattern. You can use any size Qube to make this quilt, although that will affect the size of your finished piece.

Stash or Donate?

I have had to establish some rules for denim hoarding. Denim is very hard on the planet, like all cotton production. When I started to use denim in quilts, I used any jeans we were getting rid of – especially ones that no longer fit but were still wearable. Now, I only use jeans that are too damaged to donate. Jeans that still have life in them are sent to a charity (whoever is picking up in my neighborhood at the time). Jeans that are worn out or damaged go into my denim bin, and when I feel inspired, they are turned into a quilt. Of course, these rules apply to my studio only. You get to do what you like.

Another consideration about whether the jeans go into the studio or into the donation pile is the size. My husband and I wear large sizes, so our jeans have a lot of fabric. My kids, especially when in school, were very slim. Small jeans are just as much work to take apart as big jeans, but you get less to work with. If the jeans you are considering using are toddler jeans, learn to love yourself and give them away. My advice is to use large jeans whenever plausible. If you are a family of very slim people, I’m sorry.

Rip or Cut?

The first decision I make when I’m ready to quilt is if I am taking the jeans apart or just cutting off the thick parts. I love the depth of color you can find in the seams, inside the pockets, and when you take apart things like the waistband. I don’t love the amount of work involved in finding these little treasures. Sometimes I just cut the thick parts off and move along. I tried a few projects weaving the flat felled seams together and was unable to sew them. To give them a little more life I will braid them together, knot the ends, and give them to my dog to play with. They can last a surprising amount of time.

Okay. Once we are ready to destroy some old jeans, it’s important to make sure we have good tools. Whether you are cutting or seam ripping, you want a nice sharp tool. If you typically rip with the dinky seam ripper that came with your sewing machine, stop that. Get yourself a comfortable seam ripper. I know you have good fabric scissors. This is a time to use them.

Got a hole that you want to keep, like a worn out knee? Just cut a piece of quilting cotton the same size as that patch and piece it into the quilt top behind the denim. That will contain your batting and preserve your memories.

I like to make sure I have a few different colors of jeans when I work. Luckily, I like stonewashed jeans, while my husband prefers dark Wranglers. Oh, and about those stretch jeans – I have found that they are fine. I pay a little more attention when I’m stitching with them, but overall they don’t present a problem.

Press

If you take your denim apart, you will need to press the seams to get them to lay flat. Press a lot, with steam, and you might need some starch, too. The pieces that have been folded over, stitched flat, then lived in for years don’t want to be flat anymore. Assert yourself and flatten them. And then keep an eye on them, and be ready to pin them in place if they are misbehaving.

Batting

One question I am asked often is if I use batting in my denim quilts. At this point I’ve made 5 denim quilts. I hadn’t used batting in any of them previously. I’ve backed them with flannel, so they have a soft side, but didn’t want the extra weight of batting in them. Which technically means they were not quilts after all, just patchwork. For this one I used batting, partly to see how heavy it actually is, and partly because I have so many batting scraps from years of longarm quilting, and it has to go somewhere.

This quilt has Warm & Natural cotton batting, and yes, it is heavy. I would consider this one to be a good winter quilt, or a picnic quilt for the backyard. I wouldn’t want to lug this thing to the park or beach. I’ve had people suggest using flannel as a batting, too, which sounds like a great idea if you have a lot of that laying around. I don’t, and I usually don’t buy anything for denim quilts. Buying something special to finish it would defeat the purpose of using up stuff.

Have you tried making quilts with denim? I forget how much I love it when I’m not working with it. I have an idea about curved piecing with denim that is bugging me. Stay tuned.

Don’t forget to visit the AccuQuilt Blog if you want pattern information.

Here are Oscar and Toby, posing with the quilt. Oscar has to wear his life jacket in the backyard, because he squeezes through the fence to enforce his will upon the neighborhood. Toby is embarrassed for Oscar.