Friday, March 20, 2020

These have been on my "To Do" list forever!!!

I have always wanted to make a denim quilt!!!!   It really has been on my list forever.   So I started saving my kids old jeans a ways back, and then kind of forgot about it.  Well, Guess what I found when we were doing our remodel and I had to completely clean out my sewing room . . . that's right, the giant stack of jeans that are still just sitting there. 


 And right on the top of the stack, the Charming Circles ruler.   Which made me recall some years back I started seeing Cathedral Window Denim quilts and decided it would be the perfect denim quilt, because wouldn't you know,  I have always wanted to make a Cathedral Window quilt as well!!!   Double Bonus!!!   So I bought the ruler and put it with the jeans, and once again, forgot about this project. 


So after finishing the remodel,  I decided I wasn't' going to put the tote of jeans away.    Hopefully then I wouldn't forget about this project idea.    And then life got crazy and we are all now homebodies . . . so what better time to dig in to the bucket of jeans right.   And I even got the kids involved.  We have been having fun cutting up all of their old jeans and remembering how small they once were.   Oh, and side note, after a lot of trial and error, we found the easiest way to cut up jeans is to take out the back center seam first, and then cut down the two center leg seams.   And once you get the cut started, most of the time you can just rip them along the seam.  That was the kids favorite part!! 


So then you have 4 main leg parts without seams that are easy to work with.  But we quickly found that the circle ruler normally only fit on the back part of the leg as that was larger than the front part of the legs.   But I didn't want to waste all of that denim.   So can you guess where this went . . .  Another quilt!!!  Yup, I grabbed my 5" ruler and found it fit perfect on the front part of the leg, and how fun would it be to make a simple denim patchwork quilt as well ;)


So for the last few days, we have been working our way through the denim bucket and we now have a stack for Charming Circles and a stack for 5" squares.    And the jeans are all gone.   Now it's time to move to the rotary cutter.  I am sure we won't have enough to make both quilts the size I want them, but it is great to get started.   And the new plan is to cut up the jeans as they grow out of them, so I don't ever get a huge bucket stacked up again.     


I am so excited for this new Long Term Project.   It is going to be so much fun and I am thrilled at the idea of finally checking off not one but two, "To Make" quilts on my bucket list!!!!

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7 comments:

  1. The "Sunny Side" of our current situation. That will be one beautiful quilt and full of memories. Please keep us posted on the progress. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  2. How fun to have this activity with the kids. I know it must be hard on families that have kids home all the time and still confined to the house. I love the idea of the quilts you are doing.

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  3. Well, I'll be watching to see how you progress on this project. I also have stacks of jeans. I refrained from considering a denim afghan because of the weight of it. I might be thinking in terms of a sleeping bag. Not sure yet and I continue to collect jeans, lol.
    xx, Carol

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  4. I also have a stack of used jeans! Earlier this week I had the idea to make a sewing machine cover with one pair, incorporating the pockets as well. Another idea, for the kids, is to make a phone/earbud holder from the pockets. I got the idea from Bev at Flamingo Toes https://flamingotoes.com/easy-diy-phone-charger-holder/
    I used the front pocket with the coin pocket. My niece loved it in her dorm! Thanks for sharing. Deb

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  5. Thanks for reminding me! That is almost word-for-word my experience with my "jeans quilt." Right up to cutting them out. Now I remember the pattern I wanted to do - cathedral windows. And you just took some of the messy guessy starting stuff. Must go grab my tote.

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  6. I have a while bunch of those circles cut from jeans. I think I need to pull those out soon and get a quilt started

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  7. years ago I had lots of jeans to cut up - neighbor next door had 6 kids and she donated her own stack to add to mine. I made simple patchwork quilts for bunk beds & back 'em with red flannel. My kids grew up and eventually a couple of those bunk quilts ended up in car trunks. I only asked them "don't use the quilt to change oil in the garage'. One quilt still exists as a dog bed. So, while they're the heaviest quilt you'll ever quilt, denim quilts do last a loooong time. I enjoy your blogs and lurk every day or so.

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa