I quilt a lot and have been quilting consistantly over 25 years. If you count the quilted pillow I did in high school - with calicos - the only quilting fabric available, and the quilt I started in college, it’s been about 40 years. That’s a lot of time playing with color and fabric! I love playing with new fabrics to see how I can use them with different patterns but I also enjoy extending the life and use of scraps and repurposing fabrics in new ways.

Many years ago, I saw an exhibit of the Quilts of Gee’s Bend and was inspired by some of them that had used cut-apart jeans and garments to create the quilt tops. They must have been incredibly heavy and hard on the hands to sew.

I collect worn and used jeans (cotton is the best), and cut them apart to get flat fabric again. I save the side seams and inseams too. Eventually I will make a coil rug with them when I have enough. I love the variation in shade of denim in a pair of jeans but also in my collection.

When I think I have enough variety in shade of blue, I come up with a pattern that I think will work for an all jeans quilt. The pieces and blocks are bigger than than what I use with quilting cottons. The seams are wider and the whole quilt is heavier too.

I spent some time on my current ongoing jeans quilt today. I have wide bands that I think of like bricks in a row that are separated by narrower bands of bricks set side by side with their narrow ends facing out. Most of the wide brick rows have been made. Now I have a lot of cutting of small squares ahead to make up the narrow rows.

I love this process of laying out fabric and auditioning and seeing if all the colors and shades are balanced. Working on the jeans quilt had me thinking about how much I enjoy the creative challenge of repurposing and reusing fabric that many would toss. It’s environmentally kind but it’s also satisfying to have, use and touch these fabrics which have had lives and experiences and group them together in pleasing ways for another adventure.

What do you like to reuse and repurpose?