I've been collecting our denim jeans that are beyond repair for a couple years now thinking that I wanted to recycle the fabric somehow.
I finally found the perfect opportunity when a group at work started collecting blankets for a charity relief effort. I didn't pay too much attention to what the actual charity was, I think to provide basic needs stuff, in this case blankets, to earthquake victims. If that is actually the cause, I'm a little dubious how much use the Haitians receiving the donation will get out of blankets. Isn't Haiti a tropical island? Whatever. I was simply excited that this would be a great way to experiment with making a quilt out of the denim. One of my friends gave me one of her cast-off pairs as well, and off I went cutting, cutting, cutting 4 pairs of jeans in little strips.
and then sewing, sewing, sewing all those strips together to achieve a "subway" tile look and taking some care to make a pleasing pattern of the different colors of denim.
I didn't quite have enough of the denim pattern to make a full 40" x 60" (standard crib size) so I had to decide if:
- I was OK with making a dinky, not even going to cover up a kindergartner, blanket? - heck no
- having run out of the gray denim, did I want to just add more regular blue denim? - also, heck no, it took some effort to make a pattern I was satisfied with
- should add blocks of a different fabric entirely? - YES!
This little problem actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I was concerned that the denim was a little stiff as the heavy fabric and lots of seams turns out to not be the best of ideas for a cuddly blankie. A trip to the local fabric store turned up the cutest fleece with a googly eyed lizards all over it to add to the top and bottom. Now, it will make a very snuggly, cuddly blankie, especially with the flannel backing covered in goofy blow-fish.
my favorite thing of all was adding the pockets. I can only imagine Barbie getting tucked into bed along with her little girl, or maybe some little boy's secret treasure of green army men will hide in the pocket "caves".
