Making a Denim Quilt
You don't need a special quilt pattern to sew a denim quilt, often called a blue jeans quilt, but denim's heavy weight means that some quilting patterns are easier to assemble than others.Blue jeans are usually made from heavier denim, while shirts and other garments are cut and stitched from lighter weight fabrics. The lighter weight your denim, the easier it will be to work with small quilt patches.
When you're working with heavy denim, stick to simple shapes like squares or bricks, but don't worry, because plain bricks and squares don't have to be boring:
- Use different colors of denim in the quilt to achieve a dramatic difference from patch to patch.
- Use plain denim for some patches and alternate them with a denim print.
- Sew with blue denim patches of different shades or patches that are faded to different levels to get a subtle variation between quilt blocks.
- Think about the different ways that ceramic tile is applied to floors and choose a similar arrangement for your denim quilt blocks.
- Make a denim rag quilt, with seam allowances that are exposed and allowed to fray--like this easy rag quilt--it would be perfect sewn in denim.
- Compare denim fabric and prices at fabrics.com.
Wash new denim fabric at least twice--more for a softer look and feel, and be sure to press denim before using it in a quilt.
