I have been saving worn out jeans for years to use in quilts. Glad to have these tips before making one. Will keep watching for more tips.

the brick pattern comes to mind, not a lot of intersections in one place....

My mother made a jeans quilt in the log cabin style to use up some smaller scraps. With all the various shades of blue, it was gorgeous.

I was looking at an old magazine today at my LQS and the quilter years ago,opened up the seams and used the whole piece....

I made a rag quilt out of old jeans. The quilt was so heavy I didn't need to back it--it was plenty warm just the way it was!

My favorite way to make a jeans quilt is to pair it up with no-whale corderoy. It holds up to the heavier jean fabric well, and adds an interesting texture to the quilt.

Mine were done square in a square style. They held up for many years and looked great even though my boys both drug them around with them after they left home. You gotta love that durability!

My friend did a jean quilt she cut them into stripes and made a rail fence quilt. It looks great

I just finished a blue jean quilt and I used "a square-in-a square with assorted plaid flannel. I used white flannel for a thin batting and a blue "handkerchief" fabric for backing and binding.

I have seen really great rag quilts made with denim squares on the back and the flannel on the front, with no batting between the layers. One quilt even had a few denim stars stitched to some of the flannel blocks about 1/4" away from the raw edge. Made a cute design!

I have made a few denim quilts, but I didn't want just plain squares. My first one was a Kite quilt, using dark and light denims for the kites and mediums for the background. This has been a great picnic quilt. I got the pattern from a "Quiltmaker" magazine March/April '98, and enlarged the patterns. When I taught the "Colorful Kites" class last summer, I cleaned out the company's back issues of that particular magazine. I still have three copies, but the pattern is also included in a book called "Paper Piecing Picnic" which I noticed is still available on Amazon.com.

Then I designed a giant Storm at Sea quilt (24" blocks) to take advantage of all the different shades of denim. I call it a "Tsunami". I even made one with old black jeans and Dockers (khakis) for my son. I'll attach pictures. You can find a slideshow and pattern of this quilt on my website: http://www.quiltscapesquilting.com/slideshows.php

I would recommend that when you cut out your pieces, trim out ALL of the seams. If you like pockets, remove them and re-stitch them on the quilt where you want them, later. I would also recommend using a size 100 needle, and pressing your seams OPEN to reduce the bulk. And I have actually used a little batting such as another layer of flannel to give it a bit of a loft and protect the seams from wearing through. I have machine-quilted several of these on my longarm, and my daughter and I used yarn and pliers to hand-quilt the ties on my Kite quilt.

This is a great way to use up old denims! If you need more, visit your local thrift store, or tell your neighbors and friends you are collecting them. Have fun!

The one denim quilt that I've made with flannel was the snowball pattern. This way I used back pockets, hammer loops, and appliques from the jeans. I used the plaid flannel pj fabric at the corners. My friends' DD loved it.