Gayle's Quilts

My Grandson is asking for a quilt make with blue jeans. Will I need a special needle, thread? Is this something that
I don't want to get into? Other words are they hard to work with? Does anyone out there have any picture to help guild me in the right direction? Will need all help!! Please!!
Thanks Gayle

earthwalker

You will need a good strong cotton thread, a denim needle and if it's to be a denim rag quilt, some good quality snips (ragging is hard without the snips).

Prism99

I found that cutting up jeans is really hard on the hands. I recommend getting an electric scissors for rough-cutting the jeans apart. Here is a link to one on Amazon. I don't know if this is the best one out; do a search on Amazon and read the reviews to make sure it is a good one capable of zipping through denim:
http://www.amazon.com/Rockwell-RC260...dp/B003BEAOSK/

It also helps if you can use an Accuquilt Go! or Baby to die-cut the jeans. I did this with a rotary cutter and it was hard on my hands; would not do it that way again.

These are not necessities for jeans quilts, but they really do save your hands from stress and arthritic type damage.

katydidkg

I've made one jeans quilt and they are so worth the effort. In fact, son and wife are asking for a larger one. I'd find jeans with neat pocket stitch motifs and zippered pockets, jeans of varying colors etc., anything to make the quilt interesting. Have fun !

dakotamaid

I used a new rotary blade in my large rotary cutter. I also have arthritic hands and found the larger rotary cutter with a new blade to be more than sufficient when cutting denim. Everytime I had a pair of jeans to add to my denim stash I would do all the de-construction before they were added to the box. Than all I had to do when I was ready for a quilt was to cut my patches. Took me 5 years to get enough for a quilt. They are so worth the time.

NanaCindyLou

I was thinking about doing this too. Now feel so encouraged to get started!

dakotamaid

Forgot to add that a friend stitched hers on her serger. She never did finish the back, just used it as a throw in the car or to add padding when moving something. I just backed mine with a bright flowered twill-like fabric and it resides in my van.

Judi in Ohio

I was a beta tester for a designer's new embroidery designs and instead of doing them on cotton I used denium. Didn't need stabilizer or much less anyway. I had all these gorgeous flowers in different size blocks - they were all wonky. I made up piles of 8", 5" blocks by squaring generously. I put the 8" together in a strip, the 5", the whatever size together. Now, I did these with a wrong side together3/4" seam. This quilt turned out gorgeous and I donated it to a great cause. I did the back in flannel and boy was it heavy.

Skittl1321

You'll want a good strong sewing table too- you need to support the weight of the fabric!

Keep in mind denim quilts get VERY heavy. If your nephew is a little boy (rather than a grown one), make it smaller than you normally would. You can trap a child under a full size denim quilt!

Tartan

Jean quilts are do-able but keep a couple of things in mind. The seams tend to be bulky so minimize the seams needed in the quilt top. It also helps to off-set the squares so that the seams don't all meet in the same spot. You can also do them in rag style with the seams exposed and frayed. The bigger it gets the heavier it gets, so sew 2 halves and then join them. There are some great examples on QB that you can find by using the search box.