February 2021 – Time to Quilt

(Originally posted February 5th, 2021)

I originally had another denim stained glass pattern in mind but, our friend was small so I wouldn’t have been able to cut any 12″ squares (unless I left some leg seams in them which I thought might make the quilt even heavier and not as comfortable to use).

I saw the idea for this quilt on The Flemings Nine blog. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern for it. Stained glass quilts are pretty popular these days so a quick search will give you plenty of free blocks patterns to choose from. Just make sure you look the pattern over before you begin cutting the pieces so you can adapt it to the size pieces you’re able to cut.

Alternately, you can just check out the cutting info below for the quilts I made. I deliberately chose a stained glass design so none of the denim pieces are sewn together. Having that strip of regular black quilting cotton between them made would make the seams less bulky and the quilt more comfortable to use.

These quilts were composed of 48 blocks each and measure 60″ x 80″ finished.

I’m included photos I took as I was constructing the second one along with a breakdown of the size pieces I used.

Press all seams toward the black fabric.

Each block denim:

5″ x 10″
5″ square
5″ x 2 1/2″
(2) 2 1/2″ squares

Each block black:

1″ x 10″
(2) 1″ x 5″
1″ x 2 1/2″

Sashing:

1″ x 10″ between blocks (40 pieces for this quilt) and 1″ x length of finished rows. The blocks should measure 10″. Because several of the jeans I used were stretch denim, I did have to square the blocks up a bit before joining them.

If you’re using women’s jeans which often have a little stretch in them, measure the completed rows and use the average measurement before you cut the sashing strips to sew between the rows.

I used 3 1/2″ binding strips so the outside edge would be the same 1/2″ finish as the rest of the black pieces in the quilt.

Click on the photos to view a larger image.

Begin by sewing black strips to the block pieces but, only sew them on half of the 2 1/2″ squares.

Sew 2 1/2″ squares with the black strip to a 2 1/2″ without the black.

Sew the black edge of the 2 1/2″ x 5″ strip to the squares.

Sew the black edge of the 5″ square to the previous unit.

Add the black edge of the 10″ x 5″ square to the side of the previous unit. Construct all of your blocks with the pieces positioned in the same way.

Next, lay your blocks out in pairs rotating one block 90°. You can see the top block has been rotated one clockwise turn to the right.

Sew a 10″ black strip to the lower edge of the top block. Sew the bottom block to the top unit.

My rows are 6 blocks across (3 pairs of blocks laid end to end).

Add a 10″ black strip between each pair of blocks.

DO NOT add a black strip to the beginning or to the end of each row.
The wide black binding will complete the design.

Month: February 2021

How to make a jean quilt

And they’re done!