Monday, January 30, 2012

Jean Quilt Tutorial

My husband and children love quilts!  Especially homemade ones!  So for Christmas this past year I made my husband a "Levi Blanket" out of old jeans that we wore out over the years.


I started out cutting my jeans into strips.  I cut them into 4, 5 and 6 inch strips, it all depended on how small my jeans were that I was cutting.  To me, this is the most time consuming part.

  I sewed the strips into rows.  Then go a head and place the rows into the order you want them to be sewn into.  I was planning on using a flannel sheet that I picked up on clearance a few years ago that we never used.  So I laid the sheet down and then laid the rows of jeans on top of that so I would have the right size of top.  Once you have your rows laid out in the order you want them to be in, start sewing them together to make your jean top.

Now on to the pictures...

Lay your sheet on your frame.  It's best to have help and it's more fun too!


Clamp your frame together and put on stands. 


You know how much I love yard sales!  Well, I picked up a huge roll of batting at a yard sale for $1!  Actually my husband found it and bought it asking if I could make him a jean quilt with it...


Lay out your batting and smooth out any wrinkles.


Now put the jean blanket on top and pull tight. Clamp the corners and use pins along the sides to hold down the all the pieces of the quilt.


Now time for the fun part!  Tying the quilt.  We wanted to put our ties right down the center of each strip that I sewed.  We used 3x5 inch cards to space out the ties along the strips.


With a few people working, you can really crank a quilt out fast!  As you finish rows, roll the sides up and then reclamp the corners.  This way you can tie the middle of the quilt.


Once it is all tied, all that's left is finishing up the edges.  There are different ways to bind a quilt.  I did it the easiest and quickest way I knew how to do before my husband came home!  I trimmed the all the layers down, but left the flannel sheet about 2 inches longer than the rest.  Then I folded the flannel over the jean part and sewed.

Now we have one heavy, but warm, jean quilt!

Questions:  How do you do the edges?
I don't do anything to the edges.  I have made many jean blankets and haven't had any problems with the edges.  I just sew them together using a straight stitch.


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20 comments:

Rose @ Walnut Acre said...

I love the quilt and can just imagine how nice and warm it must be.

~Beth D. said...

It looks really neat! Time consuming, but worth it!

Helen said...

Very nice and quite a surprise for your husband.

Jen the CraftinCowgirl said...

I love it, great job!

Kim said...

I like the strips..a lot easier than the the one i did..Raggedy! Great job!

Unknown said...

Beautiful...a great way to use all those old worn jeans with blown out knees! :D

Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. said...

This looks so warm and comfy and it's a great way to recycle your old jeans! Thanks for sharing!

The Quilt Ladies said...

I love these quilts, nice job !

Katie said...

That is so cool. I've never seen a stand like that, but it must make things go so much faster! And what a great way to reuse old jeans.

Little City Farm said...

I love this idea. I have 'learning how to quilt' on my list for this year. I'm definitely keeping this post for guidance, lol. I would love for you to share this at our Link It Up Thursday party.

Stephanie said...

I just made a quilt this way, in strips. It is so much easier to sew together than 6x6 inch blocks! Thanks for posting the tutorial.
thepetitesewist.blogspot.com

Shiloh said...

I've made a couple of these now, and I get better every time. They are great for camping too.:)

Melanie @ bear rabbit bear said...

This looks like an excellent idea. Happy you linked to Things I've Done Thursday this week.
Melanie

Carrie said...

What a great tutorial. I love quilting. Thank you for sharing such a great one on Sharing Saturday! We hope you will join us again next week!

Ann @ makethebestofthings said...

Love this! My son still has the jean quilt I made him over 20 years ago, it has held up really well. Maybe it's time to make another one? Your project has inspired me. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Oh, wow! I never would have thought to make a quilt from old jeans! What a great idea...it turned out really well! Thanks for sharing at Shine on Fridays!

Unknown said...

Love it!!! My grandmother used to have such a quilt frame. It was my job as a kid to go under the quilt and pull the yarn and then tie them. Such wonderful memories!! I want to make a jean quilt for my nephew. I guess I better get cutting up some jeans.

Jill said...

That quilt is just gorgeous! I've never seen how one is made on a frame before - thanks for sharing this - I really enjoyed reading about and seeing the process!!


Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

Julie said...

Thank you for participating in Show Your Stuff Blog Hop; You are invited to come back:

http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/02/lobster-stuffed-mushrooms-show-your.html

sue said...

So how exactly do you do the edges please?

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