8 steps to turn old jeans into new quilts

There’s nothing more satisfying than taking denim and recycling it into a beautiful quilt thereby giving that denim a second life. Jeans are the most common and easily accessible denim to recycle into quilts. They have history, different shades of blue depending on their previous life, and it’s fun to give them a new purpose!

Where can you find this denim or jeans to reuse? Start by looking right in your own closet or your partner’s! I bet you’ll find at least two pairs that you haven’t worn in a few years! Other places to pick up denim are rummage sales, thrift stores, or second hand stores.

When looking for used denim or jeans to be more specific, look for the larger sizes, you get more denim out of them. As well make sure they aren’t too worn or thin or have many stains.

Once you get your denim home, begin by washing the denim, and drying it to get rid of any stains and take care of any shrinking issues.

Cut apart the fabric and discard seams as they’re too bulky, unless you’re using certain components in the quilt such as a back pocket, then save those.

Once you’ve cut out your large denim pieces, look over to ensure there are no holes, thinning or stains on the denim.

Now you can start cutting the shapes that you need for your quilt. Remember denim does fray so you may have to consider having larger seam allowances to account for that if using a lot of denim. Using a variety of pieces of denim can provide a pleasing effect as well, especially if you have a lot of different shades.

Often if you have a full denim quilt, you don’t need a heavy batting, use a thin layer such as bamboo batting or flannel will work perfectly as well.

If you like the look of binding, use a nice cotton that corresponds with the denim. You might also consider using denim from shirts which are lighter fabric yet sturdier than quilting cotton to bind a denim quilt.

Other options are, instead of binding your quilt, consider a machine appliqued edge or rather a pillow case method.

Those extra pieces you cut out such as pockets, are great to use for embellishments on bags, purses and even quilts! Kids love having a jean pocket on a quilted backpack as it not only adds character but provides functionality too!

Now you have your denim pieces ready to be turned into a quilt! Start planning (or should I say dreaming) how to use all that scrumptious denim in a quilt. Join me the rest of the week when I show you a couple of quilt block patterns and an adorable denim project to get you inspired to get quilting with denim!