Recycle Old Jeans

...Make a Rag Quilt!

Somehow I had accumulated a horrendous stack of old jeans that had seen better days. In my quest to conquer my sewing room, I found myself face to face with a tough decision: pitch the sacks (yes, sackS) of dirty jeans or recycle them. In a moment of weakness, I chose the latter.

Here's what my recycling method consisted of...

Splice the seams to open the jeans, and then cut them into 7-inch squares. Minor holes, paint drippings, stains, seams, pockets and any other irregularities I allowed for the durable masculine effect. With a hunk of brown plaid fabric for the back, cut squares the same size. Quilt batting can be trimmed to around 5 1/2-inch squares.

Layering plaid fabric right-side down, denim block face-up with batting sandwiched between, machine-quilt the blocks (for the plain blocks I stitched a 5-point star, while the blocks with seams or pockets, I stitched randomly to emphasize).

Placing plaid sides together, stitch the blocks with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, making strips the length of the quilt. Iron seams (either open, or to alternating sides), and then sew strips together--plaid sides matching, of course.

With a sharp pair of scissors, put a snip along the seam allowance every inch, and there's the finished product of a rag quilt.

But don't forget about the poor sewing machine. You might want to give it a good dusting once your project is completed (if not before!), or it'll really start complaining especially if it has this much lint in it!