Denim Rag Quilt

[Lowena]

Looks great @Sandra

[mudcat]

You did all that in one day?  Wow, you're fast. And I guess it's due to your job but the cutting around the zipper is so so neat.   :thumbsup:

How many squares are there in all?

[maliw]

You deserve it, well done.

[Ellabella]

I'm making it for me. Just because I can. 

Sandra.
xxx

Good for you :thumbsup:

[StitchinTime]

Looks great. I hope your arms and shoulders don’t ache too much from wrangling it through the machine.

[Ploshkin]

That's going to look great and the remains of the jeans will make a novel thong (with pockets) 

[Sandra]

You did all that in one day?  Wow, you're fast. And I guess it's due to your job but the cutting around the zipper is so so neat.   :thumbsup:

How many squares are there in all?

There are 100 squares in total.
I stitched 7 rows together, and joined them, last night (70 squares) and did the final three rows this morning before starting on my jobs.

...and the remains of the jeans will make a novel thong (with pockets) 

Eww!     

Sandra.
xxx

[CraftyIrish]

Its making me want to do one now. It's going to look fantastic. Will you put batting in the middle or just stick a backing on it.

[rubywishes]

Its making me want to do one now. It's going to look fantastic. Will you put batting in the middle or just stick a backing on it.

With the rag quilts you sandwich top, bottom and batting squares all in one go ...make sandwiches and then simply sew diagonally both ways through the 3 pieces. Then each of the sandwiches are sewn together to make your strips/rows of quilt. That's where the bulk really comes into it as when you join the squares to each other you are sewing through 6 layers of fabric! A good tip is to cut your batting squares slightly smaller than your fabric squares so as long as you have sewn your diagonals to keep the batting in place, there is no need to have it sewn in the outside seams as well. That way you can reduce the number of layers you are sewing through to 4 when you are joining your sandwiches. It is a really quick way to get the quilt done and very gratifying to do as accuracy of seam width is not a real issue. I use one of my old vintage singers to sew them as they are real workhorses and chug through the thicknesses quite happily. It is also a huge help if you use "ragging snips/shears"  to do all the little cuts through the seam allowances.

[Sandra]

Oh, go on @CraftyIrish Have a go. This is pretty easy. The worse bit it definitely the clipping part. I don't care that my seams are a bit off. It doesn't matter. 

I think I might put a fleece back on mine and just attach it by an X or something in the centre of each block. 
I want this to be easily washable and I'm a bit worried about how heavy and bulky it's going to be when it's done.
I have no intention of using any wadding/batting on mine.

Clipping is all done now. I found I had a small pair of scissors I've hardly ever used and they were less uncomfortable than the other pair I was using earlier.
Next job is to machine stitch about half an inch in, all around the sides...then clip some more up to the stitch line.

Then I can wash it.
And tumble dry. 
And hopefully find I have a fluffly quilt.

Sandra.
xxx

[CraftyIrish]

I think I will start collecting up left overs from my jean bags and make one.

[Elnnina]

Sandra that is stunning, who would have thought that old jeans and of course such a mixture of colours/shades could produce something so beautiful - well done.

Now a few years ago my sister in Canada collected jeans and made herself a jacket, it was very random i.e. not in even blocks, and then she hand embroidered I believe a cottage on the back and a bit of a landscape.  She then knitted some chunky sleeves and lined the whole thing and it was certainly different, the different shades of denim blue, white etc, and the odd shapes and sizes of the different pieces made it really stand out from the normal type of denim jacket.

[Sandra]

Well, I've got to be honest. I've really enjoyed doing this. 

This shows the state of it after all the snipping. 




I washed it on a 60 degree wash. OMG! The mess it left inside the machine. Little snippy bits all stuck inside the drum and the rubber seal. I stepped outdoors to give it a shake (= even more mess  ) before putting it in the tumble dryer.
Checked on it every 15 mins or so to remove all the lint that was collecting in the door.




There are bits all over the place. Stuck to the carpet, (and to me), bits on the kitchen floor...
It's messy to make but I'm really pleased with this. It's still a little bit 'snippy' but it'll lose that look after a few more washes.

Daughter's just come downstairs and she likes it too!  :thumbsup:

I'm not sure if I'm going to go ahead with the fleece backing idea or not.  :thinking: I love that it's so sturdy and will wash so easily as it is.

If I ever do another one, I think I might try backing each denim square with brushed cotton in a red check. That would be cosy. I wonder how much heavier that would make it?
There'd be a little bit of red peeping out on the quilt top between all the denim blue.

Sandra.
xxx

[Efemera]

It looks really good....

[Iminei]

Glorious!