improv denim quilt

RECYCLED DENIM QUILTED PILLOW

I love to quilt with denim, even though it's a little rowdy.  I love all things indigo and denim is the most popular thing to be made with indigo.  I made a quilt years ago with denim and gathered all types of vintage jeans to make it.  I couldn't bare to throw out the scraps, so I kept them.  

dyeing your jeans to be dark wash

DENIM UPCYCLE- I DYED MY STAINED JEANS WITH INDIGO

These Jeans have bad grass stains on the knees. I wanted to cover the stains so I decided to dip them into my indigo vat.  I dipped them multiple times and let them get semi dry in between.  I finally let them dry completely and washed them on hot and with an extra rinse.  

how to upcycle your clothes with dyeing

Denim Dress Upcycle Shibori Tutorial

Do you have a piece of clothing or two that you love and have thought about throwing out, but you can't because you love it too much?  This denim dress is a favorite and is past its prime.  It's faded a lot and has some stains on it.  I wanted to give it a new look in hopes that it can have some more life. 

 

Denim Shirt Upcycling tutorial

Denim Shirt Upcycle Tutorial

I was so bummed out when I somehow got bleach on one of my favorite J.Crew denim shirts! I decided to upcycle instead of throw it out because it had a lot of life left.  
Denim Scrap Patchwork Pillow Tutorial

Denim Scrap Patchwork Pillow Tutorial for Fabrscrap

I sewed all the scraps together in strip patterns and then arranged them in a pleasing composition.  I played for a while with the color blocks of light and dark shades making sure that the led the eye around the whole pillow.  There's no wrong way to do it, but I think the composition is my favorite element of the "crazy quilt".  

I pinned them down on a 21x21" piece of dark wash denim and then stitched them down like an applique.  I've included some photos of my process here.  I also taught a workshop for FABSCRAP on how to make it.  I've uploaded the class video on my YouTube channel.