Denim Car Quilt

I've often said I'm going to make a picnic/car quilt, but then the quilt turns out too nice, and I don't want to put it on the ground. Then I saw this tutorial on my friend's FB page and I decided to make a denim quilt.

I was able to get a *stack* of large sized men's jeans from the church rummage sale for a song. Here's my little helper photo bombing again.

I cut 120 - 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles following the grain of the fabric.

I didn't plan it, but I ended up with lots of different shades of blue.

... always has to be right in the middle of things...

I started out on my Janome, but four layers of denim was too much for it. I got out my heavy duty Singer Slant-o-matic and it churned over those seams with ease. The right tool for the job.

The denim really wanted to fray, so I spent a lot of time reinforcing the seams. I top-stitched all the short seams with white, jeans weight thread and all the long seams with medium gray, all purpose thread.

 

I also added a few labels from my favorite brands.
 

I backed it with dress-weight cotton and tacked it from the front at all the intersections with an egg shaped pattern stitch on my Janome. Love it! It's heavy and durable and feels like my favorite pair of blue jeans.