I did the same.....I used jeans from the local charity shop. I did use a thin batting in it and a flannel as the backing and I did stitch a cross on each of them. Crikey that quilt turned out super, super heavy but my grandson loves it..snuggles right into it at storytime or when watching the t.v. I wouldn't use stretch denim only because I doubt it would rag as well as pure denim.