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Monday, 17 October 2011

Raggy (& Thready) Baby Quilts

After I made a denim rag quilt a while ago for my friend Gay's grand baby (born this past week, by the way), I decided to make a few more to sell at our upcoming Holiday Boutique at church.  This is an "upcycled" denim project, so first I had to gather some good-quality jeans to work with.  Then I bought the fabric at our local (chatty) fabric store, and started sewing.

I basically assembly-lined them and sewed all five together at once.  Once I got them assembled, I started what has proved to be the hardest part:  snipping the seams.  This is not only a little tedious, it is also very messy.  One almost immediately takes on a porcupine-type look during this part of the project, as the tiny little threads stick right onto your clothes. 

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the ThreadMess.  After I  got the quilts snipped I then shook them out (outside), which brought forth a huge shower of little snipped threads.  I shook and shook, and the little thread rain just kept comin' down. 

But wait, that's not all.  Did you know that if you wash four denim raggy quilts close together in your washing machine, the threads will completely clog up your washing machine drain filter?  And that you will have to look in the manual to figure out how to clear that up?  And that you will have to do that four or five times to get all the thread bundles out of there?

Yes, this is true.  From now on I will be washing all of my denim quilts at a local laundromat instead of at our house.  Although I might have to utilize several laundromats, because after I wash at one place, I might just be afraid to go back after they have to clean out their washing machine drain filters - four or five times.

Regardless, here are the four finished quilts. Aren't they cute?



I think this one is my favorite so far because of how the green fabric shows up on the denim side so nicely in the seams.




This one is a close second to my favorite:




Here is the one that has not been washed yet.


It has, however, been snipped.


 And here are some of the many, many threads out on the grass. left for the birds to make happy blue nests with.



Oh, and one more picture. Here is the dog, lounging outside with denim blue threads in her fur (up by her eyes and on her ears).  Silly dog.



So, here's the bottom line on the Denim Rag Baby Quilts:

Me:  Happy that they turned out so cute and hopefully happy that they will sell.
Future Owners/Babies:  Hopefully Happy
Birds Building Nests:  Happy
Dog:  Happy
Person in charge of the washing machine at our house:  Not so happy.

However, 4:1 is pretty good, at least in my thread-covered opinion.


1 comment:

  1. First,those are SO adorable! I do like how the fabric comes through on the other side, too. Veruh cute. And thank you, as always, for letting us learn your hard lessons. that makes me think of when I was smocking for Ashley (and snipping off the ends of my threads). I was helping another young mom learn how. Troy turned to her husband and said, "I hope you have a GOOD vacuum cleaner!" :-)

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