I love jeans. To me there is nothing more comfortable than my favorite pair of jeans. They fit just right and I feel so relaxed. However when they start to wear out it is so hard for me to just "toss" them. I saved jeans up for a while several years back and made a square patch work style denim quilt out of them. I really liked it but it lacked a bit in design. I thought about using dark and light denim to create a Trip Around The World effect with them using square patches. However, I decided that I wanted something totally different than using squares this time. So I started searching online for a denim quilt that had a design element to it. That is when I found Blue Jeans Quilt Gallery. The pattern is called Circle Blue Jeans Quilt from Doreen in Bismark, North Dakota. Here is the address
www.equilters.com/library/jeans/jeans_gallbaros.html . I am not going to re-invent the wheel and explain how to make this quilt. Please visit the link and read all about it and view the finished quilt picture she has there. Her directions are excellent and well thought out. It's surprisingly easy to assemble and the finished results are beautiful!
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| circles cut from the denim |
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I was very excited to find this pattern. It reminds me of the quilt pattern Attic Window. In the photo above you can see the variation of color from different jeans I have used. My kids are excited as well because there is denim from our whole family that will make this quilt.
If you want a project that you can involve little ones in, this is a great quilt for that. My children have both helped trace the circles, as well as cut them out. It is a very simple process. I will warn you that you do not get a lot of circles from a pair of jeans. I might get 12 circles from an adult pair and only 6-8 from a childrens pair. Denim skirts would yield more because you most likely won't have as many seams.
After I have cut circles out from the jeans I try to get as many squares from the remaining fabric as I can. I use the square template. I am thinking of making a border with these pieces if I don't decide to use them in some of the circles for the center. My daughter's have favorite jeans that have embroidery on them and so I have tried to cut some of these patterns out of their jeans to incorporate into the quilt for them.
This is a close up of the stack of circles I have sitting on my treadle in the dining room. I try to cut circles for a while each night and have enjoyed watching the stack climb higher and higher and really like seeing the variation of blue's. Eventually I hope to have enough cut to make a quilt big enough for our family of four to use for outdoor events. Happy sewing!
2 comments:
I ran across your pics of denim circles after I googled about recycling blue jean seams. Did you ever finish your quilt? I'd love to see it, since I've been working on a circle quilt too. Probably since 2010 too! :) I'm about half done with a double-size quilt and what is really time consuming is the zig-zagging around every circle, not to mention the amount of thread it uses! I save money on the recycled fabric for sure, but there IS a bit invested in the many spools of thread I use. I am using recycled jeans with the centers of the circles being cut from a flag stripes/stars cotton print. I was hoping to decorate my sons' room with an American theme and the denim and flag material would be perfect. I can share a photo of the project I'm on right now if you'd like. It's a very unusual design which I see little of on the web. That's why I'd love to see a pic of yours! ~~From a complete stranger :)
Hi Iva, Welcome and thank you very much for your comment. No I have not yet finished this huge quilt. It is so very heavy I have considered making two quilts with it but that would defeat the purpose of having a nice large quilt to lay on outside. Your comment inspires me to get back working on it. I would love to see a picture of the quilt you are working on. It sounds very nice!
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