Recycled Jean Quilt is Finished!!!

So much has been going on the last two weeks that I don't even know where to start!  I will keep this post to this quilt.  I had worked on getting it quilted and I really had to hurry because I have a daughter who was entering an apron in the county fair (that is going to be a whole other post!).  I hate having to recalibrate the machine because it took me forever to switch everything over to sew on the denim.  But lo and behold, it is finished!!!!  This is our summer picnic quilt.

There are six of us in the family and every one of us has jeans in this quilt.  The sweltering heat made it really uncomfortable to sew this behemoth!!!  It weighs about seven pounds and I was sweating while I was quilting it on my machine. At one point, I had to go outside with my machine and set up in the shade because it was over 85 degrees...in my house!!!!  I like how it turned out...because I used some stretchy jeans, some of the corners do not match perfectly...OH WELL!!!  This is one of those workhorse kind of quilts so I'm not too worried about the imperfections...that's the whole point of this quilt.  It's all been recycled and getting new life.  

The quilt laid out in the driveway.

Detail of the center...again from jeans we had! (sorry, bad picture)

I hope you are all having a productive summer.  I can finally check one project off my list!  How about you???  Blessings to you, and may you keep cool in this heat!!!

Recycled jean quilt top FINISHED!

Here we are in the new year and I have finished a project!!!  Yay!  However, I had this thing sitting around all summer waiting for only two more rows to be sewn on!  I am so thrilled to finally have the top finished!  This is going to be our massive picnic quilt!!!  It is 80" x 80".  Yeah, it's big!

I have hoarded our family's old jeans for years and now we have this to show for it!  As you can see, I included pockets and seams and a lot of sites said not to use stretchy jeans which I used, too!  Hello, it's recycling at it's finest.  Now, let me say that sewing denim is not the easiest material to work with.  I used the strongest, thickest needles I could use for my machine and I used upholstery thread to make sure the seams were nice and strong.  I didn't break any needles, but I had to help the machine along in a few places.  I had considered felting all the edges, but when I saw how much work was required per square I just went with simple blocks.  This project was too big to felt for the time I wanted to invest in it.  There are six of us in the family and I used jeans from all of us. It's so rewarding to see something so utilitarian repurposed for an even happier and more utilitarian use.

 Here's a picture of the center (sorry about the color...I just took this and had to use the flash...it's dark and my lighting is poor).  The girls always have pairs of jeans with fancy designs on them (can you say hand-me-downs).  I used a pair to make a nice design for the center of the quilt.



As I said, all the jeans we already had.  I bought brand new denim backing for a steal at Walmart when they were getting rid of all their fabrics.  The only thing I spent a good deal of money on was the batting.  With a 40% off coupon, I paid $18.00 for such a big piece of batting.  Because of that, I will be using this quilt indoors during the winter for us on our couches as we watch movies.  I really love how it turned out and now I've got to figure out how I'm going to "quilt" this monster.  I had considered buttons.  I don't like tied quilts.  I may just pick a number of squares that don't have massive seams to quilt so that this thing will stay together.  Any suggestions???  I will post another picture when all is said and done.  That won't be for awhile because my daughter is working on a fine arts project and using my sewing machine.  I will have to wait.  Until then, I hope your projects are coming together and you're finishing old ones or starting new ones!!!  I would love to hear about your projects, with denim or otherwise!  Happy quilting and happy recycling!

Recycle your jeans into a quilt

Hi all. I am revamping my little blog here. I hope I spark a little interest. A project I will be working on is a massive picnic quilt made from recycled jeans. These are all the squares I have cut. They are 6 1/2" x 6 1/2". I have been collecting our jeans for years specifically for this project! I can't wait until I have it all finished! This is only the first stage so I will keep you posted on my progress. It's a great way to reuse and recycle something that we all have! Wait until I show you what I have planned for some of the pockets that weren't used!!! But that's for another post!!!

As you can see, I have many different colors and I have included seams and some decorative features, too. I've watched some youtube instructions and some people don't feel seams should be used or stretchy denim--hello, I've had four babies, you better believe my jeans stretch!!! It wouldn't be recycling if I didn't use them!!!!!! I've also included stained jeans. My husband works very hard for us so it will be included. With my family of six, we all have contributions and it will be a quilt for the family!!! What are some clever uses of old jeans that you have???