How to Make a Denim Quilt

A denim quilt is a great way to recycle old denim jeans, skirts and shirts. But you can also make a denim quilt with new denim fabric. Even if you only know how to sew a straight line on a sewing machine, you can quickly put together a denim quilt.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Backing fabric such as flannel
• Filler material (optional)
• Yarn
• Craft needle

Prepare the Quilt

1. Gather all your supplies. Prewash the backing fabric and denim and dry it in the dryer.

2. Lay the denim on the cutting mat. Cut it into four-inch strips. You may have some pieces that are longer than other pieces. You can leave them uneven lengths or if you prefer, you can cut the denim into four-inch squares.

3. Arrange the pieces in long strips. Move the strips or squares around until you have a pleasant pattern that you like. Or it can be a "crazy" arrangement that has no rhyme or reason to it.

4. Pin each section of each strip to its neighboring piece with right sides together. Don't pin the strips together at this point. If you need to move the pieces that are laid out, mark them along the edge as "Row 1," "Row 2," and so on.

Assemble the Quilt

5. Sew each piece of the strip together. Use a ½-inch seam.

6. Pin each strip together. If you're doing strips instead of squares you don't need to worry about matching corners. If you're doing squares, each corner should align with its neighbor. Sew the strips together with a ½-inch seam.

7. Place the backing fabric right side down on a flat surface. Set the fiberfill middle on top of the backing fabric if you are putting stuffing in your denim quilt. Lay the denim quilt top on top of the pile of fabric.

8. Smooth everything out. For best results, you should have about three inches of backing fabric extending all the way around the outside of the quilt.

9. Put about two feet of yarn in the craft needle. Begin tying the quilt. Insert the needle into the middle of the quilt and pull it back out about ¼-inch from where you inserted the needle. Tie a double knot. Cut the yarn.

10. Continue tying the quilt. Start in the middle and work your way to the edges. You can work in a pattern or you can just randomly place ties.

11. Fold the backing fabric over the front of the denim quilt. Stitch it in place to finish the quilt's edge.