Denim Up-cycled! part 2

Hopefully you have seen all of the prep behind this quilt already from yesterday's post and are here to see the construction. As a typically traditional quilter, this quilt takes me a little outside of my comfort zone but I absolutely love the end-result, so I am excited to share it with you! When we left off yesterday, I had my denim circles and 5.5" quilt fabric squares all cut out and ready to go. Next, I set up a sewing station where I had an iron just to my left so I could sew and iron without having to move each time.

If you are a fairly comfortable sewer/quilter, you should be able to do this quilt exactly as I did. I took a square of my quilting fabric and laid it in the center of the wrong-side of a denim circle and pressed them together with a hot iron.  By doing this, the fabric square stayed in place pretty well (you only need it to be held in place temporarily this way until you stitch it in place later on). You could also use a lightweight fusible if you felt more comfortable that way but I didn't find that to be necessary.

Then, I layered those pieces right-sides together with another denim circle. 

After that, I stitched through both denim layers just to the right of the floral square along one side.

                                 Resulting in a piece like this:

Press the seam open.

Tuck another square in against the seam.

And press to hold that piece of fabric temporarily in place until the next step when it is sewn into place.

I always call this stitch setting (#33 on my sewing machine) the "blanket stitch". It has a similar look to the hand-sewing stitch by that same name (in my opinion).

Using this stitch (or something similar on your sewing machine) stitch along the raw edge of the seam you just pressed open. When you get to the bottom of the first side, you can lift your presser foot and pivot your piece to do the other side so you don't have to clip your threads.

This is a close-up view of the stitch:

By constructing the quilt in this way, you are quilting as you go. 

Repeat these steps to make a second set:

And then sew through both layers of denim along one side to make a 4-patch. 

Continue constructing the quilt in this way until you have as many 4-patch units as needed to make the quilt the size you want.

 

Working the blocks in this way makes it easier to handle. As soon as you start putting the 4-patch units together, it will get harder and harder to work with because of the bulk and weight of the quilt. Keep going! The end result is worth the effort. 

I think this would be a great indoor quilt - the weight of it is wonderful. But, this would make the perfect picnic quilt because the denim is such a sturdy fabric. In a way, you actually get 2 quilts in one since the back is lovely too! I hope you enjoy this pattern/instructions. Thanks once again for visiting our blog!