Recap of the "Jeans Makeup" sewing-course

I realized today that I hadn't written a recap of what I had done at the Arbis "Jeans Makeover"-course back in 2-3.2.2018. 

This annoys me right now to no end, because I'd like to write it all down. How else am I gonna be able to remember otherwise the process of how I made the two jeans-quilts I started then?

The course was "just" about how to reuse material from old jeans and denim to create something useful, new and smart. (No, there is no "just" in that, but denim is a hard material to create something with, mainly because it's made of such thick woven cotton.)

Our teacher, Carola, had a bit of show-and-tell at the beginning. Among the projects she showed were a part of a then-not-finished bag with a denim-panel made in a faux cathedral window style. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check here on Google.) When I (late at night two days before that) had surfed around on Pinterest about denim-projects, this was one of the projects that I kinda got stuck on. Aaaand, I had already pinned a similar tutorial and images of similar projects on one of my Pinterest boards.

So, faux/false cathedral window mini-quilt in denim was on my project list.

What also was on my list, was one of my own go-to-quilt patterns lately. Which is basically a one-block-quilt made out of squares, of which at least half (if not more) are reused denim/jeans 15x15 cm squares I cut up back in February-March of 2017. 

So, two projects. And I managed to get the second one (that I named Blue Roses & Denim) completely webbed on that Friday, after I had cut out a lot of denim circles for the first project. (If that term doesn't make sense to you, read Bonnie Hunter's tutorial on how to do it). I finished it first thing on Saturday.

I remember I only placed 2 squares the wrong way (like 180 degrees) as I was webbing it. In the last row and way down. But I noticed and had time to correct it. even if it was nearly 21:00 o'clock then and I was really tired.

 So, yeah, first finish on that Saturday. Felt really nice. Afterwards, I only worked on the other quilt, since I didn't have any batting and backing fabric ready to sandwich this one.

The idea I had for this quilt is similar to what I had once pinned from the blog of Ulla's Quilt World; reusing parts of crocheted lace or doilies inside the "windows". I free motion quilted the doilies to the blue background fabric I had chosen for the centers/windows, and then I cut them up into squares that would fit inside them.

Thnk goodness for a BIG adjustable work-space table! The figuring-out-the-layout-part was the hardest, because I wanted to preserve the "idea" of the shape the doilies had.

These doilies are actual inherited pieces my maternal grandmother Ida (Ida Helenefors, née Ström, 1914-2010) had once crocheted. Most of them are so old, they had been put away into storage because they had accumulated permanent stains and one even had candle burn marks.

I've come to the realization that I actually LIKE having parts of my family surrounding us here at home. Mostly in the form of handcrafted items, but also in the form of framed photos on our walls. That's a really nice thing about finally having a house of our own; we can decorate exactly how we want.

Here, I'm free motion quilting the last doily parts on background fabric. These square ones were the last additions before I finally liked the layout. I had already free motion quilted the large circular doilies and cut them up, so these were a last-but-not-least-addition.

I glued (with quilting spray glue) the pieces to the denim circles. And then assembled the rows into piles, because I ran out of time to do anything more. 

And that's were I left it on Saturday. Small piles ready to be sown together when I attend the regular evening quilting course on Thursdays.

And here is where I continued the next Thursday.

I'll let you know how these projects continues :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE ask permission BEFORE you PUBLICLY copy anything from my blog.

All images, all my text, and content that I specifically haven't referenced as belonging to someone else on this site are my property and they cannot be used, copied or transmitted without my consent.

The exception here is Pinterest, because I give you permission to pin my photos there IF YOU CITE THEM AS COMING FROM THIS BLOG AND THUS FROM ME.

I understand that Pinterest is useful for saving tutorials and photos for quilting inspiration, because I use it that way myself, and I'm okay with you doing that too - but PLEASE: "cite when you write". Give the creator some credit, will you? I have nothing against you trying to make something similar, or even selling it, but I'd like to get some credit for being your inspiration. Why? Well, because lots of crafts are passed down from person to person, and it feels nice to be able to say "yes, I taught you how to make that".

What I DON*T LIKE is you flat out stealing my photos and my written text. 

If you want, check out my own shared Pinterest board: My creations
Or my Flickr photos: My photostream
For questions or further permissions, please email me at linnea.gronstrand [at]gmail[dot]com