My friend recycles old jeans from friends and family. Has for years. Recently she changed her pattern from blocks to 8-10 inch wide strips some as long as 24 inches. It lays so much nicer, not quite as heavy, and as in some other posts, varies the colors of the denim. The only glitch recently was she has noticed the Spandex added to some jeans can cause some mis-shaping of some of the seams, and she try's to limit how much she uses if that Jean fabric! They are coveted gifts. I love mine backed in flannel, so warm on a cold night. Have fun. PS just noticed an earlier post, about the stretch denim. It really causes some distortion