Denim items are universal clothing, denim items are in everyone's wardrobe. Even after long wear, the fabric retains its strength, if the item goes out of fashion, it is not necessary to throw it away. With a little effort and patience, you can sew a beautiful item from denim material. Every needlewoman can make an exclusive blanket from old jeans with her own hands - a creative, practical thing. And the remaining scraps of fabric can be used for various finishing works, edging clothes, finishing home textiles.
Choice of shape and size
Denim is a high-quality, durable material; you can sew a neat bedspread or a large blanket from old things. If you don’t have enough denim pants, you can use unnecessary denim shirts, skirts, jackets. The blanket is made using the mosaic principle – a blanket of the desired shape and size is collected and sewn from separate fragments. The advantage of sewing is that no special pattern is required. It is recommended to choose a simple layout of denim fragments and avoid too small patches - they are difficult to sew and the finished product turns out heavy and bulky. Tips for choosing the shape and size of the blanket:
- if you need to sew a bedspread for a sofa or bed with your own hands, you can base your calculations on the dimensions of the finished textile;
- to calculate the required number of denim scraps, draw a pattern for the blanket;
- when making a patchwork blanket, round pieces are cut out;
- Between the elements of the blanket you can place cotton strips cut from old shirts.
The patches of the blanket can be folded in various ways: according to a simple pattern, with a pattern, from squares or circles, with a lining, trim along the edge, with fringe. After choosing the shape and size of the denim blanket, you need to draw a sketch of the model and focus on it during the work.
To make the blanket durable and neat, you need to make a lining - it will cover the seams on the back of the blanket. For sewing, do not use scraps from jeans from heavily worn areas, otherwise the appearance of the blanket will be shabby.
Preparation of materials and tools
A plaid in the form of a mosaic of denim patches is an original solution for the home, which you can implement yourself. For one bedspread you need several pairs of jeans or other denim items. Since the items are worn, the clothes need to be washed and dried. Preparatory stage:
- after washing, you need to rip the jeans along the seams or cut the material near the seams without ripping them;
- the fabric is carefully examined, heavily worn fragments are cut out;
- prepare the required number of rectangles, squares, circles depending on the blanket design;
- seam allowances are left on all the pieces. The lining fabric is cut to the size of the bedspread;
- Tools and materials: thick thread and needle, measuring tape, scissors, sewing machine, lining, denim scraps.
If cotton inserts are used when making a denim blanket with your own hands, the required number of strips of fabric are cut before sewing, leaving allowances for seams. You can make an additional check of the pattern - lay out the patches according to the sketch, look at the general appearance of the future product and decide whether there are enough fragments.
Opening
You can sew a blanket from old jeans using different cutting patterns - as a result, you will get products of different shapes, sizes and designs. To make the work go faster, you first need to prepare the denim scraps. The number and shape of the fragments depend on the chosen blanket model. The following cutting options can be used as samples:
- to sew a bedspread from squares in the patchwork style with fringe, you need to cut out 350 pieces of jeans and fabric, size 15x15 cm;
- to make a blanket from several blocks with motifs, you need to prepare 20x20 cm squares of denim in two shades;
- to sew a bedspread from jeans and shirts, make 120 squares of 12x12 cm and 120 strips of 2.5x12, 2.5x14.5, 2x14.5, 2x16.5 cm;
- To sew a simple blanket from square patches, you will need 352 denim blanks measuring 12x12 cm.
You can think over the design of the model yourself or use ready-made ideas. This type of handicraft can be classified as a creative hand-made technique. When sewing a patchwork blanket, you can implement any ideas. Blankets with a mosaic layout of patches, the use of contrasting fragments, a combination of denim and cotton fabric, with fluffy fringe look beautiful.
Sewing instructions
Before making complex blankets with your own hands, it is worth practicing on simple models of bedspreads. To do this, you can sew a small blanket from identical or different colored squares, connecting the fragments with a machine stitch. The front part of the product is formed from denim blanks, a lining from large pieces of fabric or a whole cut is sewn onto the back side. For this, you can use old bed linen, curtains, an unnecessary tablecloth or tulle. Among the variety of denim blankets, several of the most common sewing techniques can be distinguished - stripes, patchwork style, watercolor type or squares.
In stripes
The strip sewing technique is the easiest way to quickly "assemble" a denim blanket with an interesting pattern or design. The first option is to use strips of individual squares. To form them, cut out the same number of fragments from denim material and lining fabric. Instructions on how to quickly sew a blanket from jeans:
- the patches are sewn together with the wrong side together in a strip;
- the resulting seam is 1.5 cm wide and remains on the front side;
- form strips from all the blanks - 10, 15, 20 pieces by size;
- the strips are sewn together, and the lining is sewn on at the bottom;
- fringe is made on the seams on the front side with sharp scissors.
To get a seam with a fringe, the fabric is cut lengthwise, stepping back from the seam by 2-5 mm. The transverse threads are pulled out (by hand or with a brush), the edges of the fringe are fluffed up. If the blanket is without a fringe, the square patches are sewn into stripes so that the seams remain on the back side of the blanket.
Another method of sewing stripes is performed using a pattern. Stripes in the form of fir trees, diamonds, zigzags, log cabins look interesting. First, a sketch is made, denim stripes are prepared according to it and sewn according to the scheme of the selected pattern.
Patchwork
Hand-made craftsmen often resort to patchwork technique when working with textiles. You can make a creative blanket from round fragments from old jeans. For work you will need four or five pairs of denim pants, a set of sewing accessories and an unnecessary CD. Master class: how to make a blanket from old jeans using patchwork technique:
- After preparing the material, on the back side of the fabric you need to draw circles, outlining the disk;
- An odd number of blanks are cut out using the samples and an inscribed square is drawn on each circle;
- all the pieces are basted together along the fold lines so that the machine stitching is smoother;
- all basted seams are stitched, and the allowances of the circles are smoothed and steamed;
- The allowances are sewn inside the round pieces using a zigzag stitch, the blanket is hemmed, edged or a lining is sewn on.
To sew a brighter blanket, before zigzag processing, multi-colored square patches of regular fabric or insulating material are inserted into the circles. For those looking for unusual solutions, the "crazy patchwork" technique will suit. The design of the blanket is a pile of different denim fragments, the edges of which are connected, stitched to the base and decorated.
If you don't have a lot of jeans, you can use any denim items or alternate scraps with inserts of other materials. The thinner the fabric, the easier it is to work with and stitch the seams.
Watercolor
The originality of the “watercolor” technique is in connecting denim blanks in a certain sequence, taking into account the color scheme. First, the blanket fabric is collected from light fragments, placing them in the center, and closer to the edges, increasingly dark squares are sewn. Or they do the opposite - from the dark center to the light edges. Features of sewing a blanket:
- you need to try to select the fragments by shades so that the colors seem to “flow” into each other;
- alternation from dark to light color can be done up to the middle of the blanket or in a spiral;
- The main task is to create a visual effect of smooth changes in color gamut.
The work requires patience and perseverance, since the technique is complicated by the selection of colored blanks. But the bedspread with an elegant composition organically matches the furniture upholstery. As the blanket is made, the skills of the watercolor technique improve.
Fast squares
For beginner needlewomen, the option of sewing using the quick square method is suitable; you need to learn how to create three-color squares. To sew such blankets from old jeans with your own hands, you need several pairs of denim pants of different colors, as shown in the photo. Cut out two rectangles from two different materials and sew them lengthwise. The seams obtained on the back side are smoothed and steamed.
The third piece is cut out of fabric of another shade - a rectangular fragment, the length of which is equal to the width of the strip from the first and second rectangles. Three pieces are sewn together with the front sides to make a sleeve from denim material. From the sewn sleeve, you can cut out quick three-color squares and use them as separate blocks for sewing a blanket.
Patchwork products have always been in demand. And now, at the peak of popularity of hand-made, such textiles will become a decoration of any room. To sew a blanket, you need to work hard, but the resulting thing will be exclusive and unusual. Such work allows you to implement interesting ideas and creative solutions.
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