Denim Circle Quilt

The quilt pictured above is a Christmas gift for my 10-year-old son, Brian.  He loves blankets and always cuddles up with one when he watches TV or reads.  So, earlier this fall, I got the idea into my head to make him a quilt.  I started it in early September and I finished it (finally!) over Thanksgiving weekend.  It's pretty big -- about twin bed size, so Brian could use it on his bed if he wants to do that.

What I made is called a denim circle quilt.  I got the idea from a thread on a scrapbooking message board.  It's one of those quilts that is put together differently than you'd think, and isn't nearly as difficult as it looks.  It's actually made with circles of denim (LOTS of them!) which are sewn together side to side.  You then add print blocks in the center of each circle, pin the edges of the circle over the blocks and use a close zig zag stitch to encase the edges.  There is no batting at all, so in that sense it isn't a "traditional" quilt.  Also, you can make this in pieces, which made the project much more doable for me. 

The website that I got the instructions from is here:  http://www.straw.com/equilters/library/jeans/jeans_gallbaros.html  I did things a little bit differently, in that I used somewhat bigger circles and squares than suggested in the instructions.  Also, I bought a plastic quilting square which I used to mark the middles of the circles, and I bought a gizmo to help me mark and cut perfect circles.

Here is a picture of the pattern that the stitching creates on the back of the quilt.

 

I just love the flower/circle pattern of the stitching!  Anyway, if you decide to tackle this project, you'll find that people online always describe this as a project for someone with no sewing experience.  If you've really never sewn before, I wouldn't recommend this as a first project.  While it's not difficult, it is very time consuming, and you really have to be careful about matching the circles correctly or the rows don't fall into place as they should.  Also, I made this quilt in six sections (which the website suggests), but putting those six sections together into the finished quilt was quite an endeavor.  I've NEVER made a quilt, and I was somewhat unprepared for how bulky the whole quilt was, and how difficult it was to feed it smoothly into the sewing machine.  If you're like me and have never tackled a quilt, I suggest reading some general quilting tips because it really helps to find out how other (experienced!) quilters deal with some of the difficulties.

Geez, I'm probably making this sound harder than it was!  It was actually a really fun project, and though it was a little more difficult than I'd thought it would be, I learned a lot while doing it and the finished project looks great (if I do say so myself).  Certainly, this is easier than a traditional quilt, so don't hesitate to give it a try!