quiltmonkey Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 ........and it's huge and it is very HEAVY! I am a little apprehensive... can I ? (or should attempt to ?) quilt something that is made of strips of blue jeans? She cut out just the fronts and backs of the legs and sewed them together (like planks in a floor) Some of the seams are thick. Not sure if I should go there... might be a PITA to quilt. She just wants a meander.... ugh! What is your advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 How wide are the strips? I have quilted a few jeans quilts...and the seams get pretty thick. Maybe just meander in the strips without crossing the seam lines. I hope she didn't use the thick seams of the jeans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinequilts Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Shana - after my Millie had to be shipped to Utah for repairs (loose screw inside the gearbox - maybe caused by going over heavy intersections?), I decided to rename her 'Lady', and as a Lady she no longer does denim. I know our machines can handle it, but it is just not worth the risk of having tension or timing go out and expensive repairs. I never make a denim quilt and so why should I risk my $15,000 machine for someone else's? I actually had a denim quilt in my backlog and I sent it back to my customer. She was very understanding. You will have to make your own decision, but that's my two cents worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Originally posted by sagebrushquilter ......I hope she didn't use the thick seams of the jeans. No she didn't... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Shana, if YOU are apprehensive, then it's a given that none of the rest of us should tackle this project!!!!:P:P Honestly, if you have reservations about it, bounce it back to her - life is too short, unless she's planning to pay you big bucks for your chewed-down nails. Did she say what she intends to use it for? Maybe to restrain intruders?....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 It's a bunch of jeans from her years gone by. The strips are about 4"-5" wide. The thing is heavy. She's got batting, too. Not sure I want to go there... it might be too thick! Maybe she should just tie it with floss or yarn. Ugh! Thanks everyone for advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 It might be the kindest thing (to both of you) to gently suggest that having it tied (maybe by a local church ladies' group?) would make it less cumbersome? And cheaper, too??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-Jane Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Shana, Dave did do a very heavy denim quilt on our Millie. Look at our web site under the gallery - denim quilt. He was successful - slow going and careful!!! But it ended up beautiful. A very, very heavy quilt, it had Hobbs wool batting and cotton backing. There were seams that by the stars and geese blocks that were very thick. So it is up to you and if you decide to give it a try, just contact Dave and will try to help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Shana, you can do denim...try a 4.5 needle. I have quilted through corduroy, heavy decorator fabric, doubled denim and doubled double knit with few problems (had to raise the foot on the corduroy as it tended to burnish the surface.) Or you could suggest she let you "tie" the quilt with decorative yarn or thread (see my article in the latest Fons and Porter mag.) You could even tack the layers together with a decorative motif...a star or swirl every here and there spaced evenly in the centers of the strips. Remind her that the more you quilt it, even with large meandering, the stiffer it will feel. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaildrake Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Shana; I given this tip out of the Fon's and Porter Magazine May/June 2011 It's about Tying a quilt by machine and it shows a denium quilt . It's dawn Cavanaugh's article. Has anyone else seen this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaildrake Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Sorry, I never saw Dawn just before me !!!!!!!!!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Listen to your inner quilter!! But I know you, sweet Shana and you will want to make this customer happy, so I bet you will give it a try! I had a ginormous 118" X124" tee shirt quilt which had W&W batting--I weighed it when finished and it weighed 18 pounds! The gentleman who pieced it uses it on the bed and his wife says they can't even roll over in bed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Shana, if you do this..i'd tie off and not cross those thick seams. PITA, I know..but I would NEVER cross those seams w/jeans like that EVER. Just my own opinion here...go with your gut feeling and you wont be sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitomi Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I did this job for a soccer team where they wanted their names embroidered on the duffle bags. Since I knew the coach of the team, I told him I would and charged only $15.00 a bag. When I was sewing them, the bag got loose and majorly screwed up my Viking Sewing machine. It's a computerized one. It cost me more to fix that darn sewing machine than what I charged to do the bags. I would never do that again. Our sewing machines are our business, and when they aren't working, we are out of business. We here in Kona don't have people to fix machines and it takes sometimes over a month to get it fixed. Luckily, I had other machines to work with, but now, I take jobs that I know won't mess up my machine. It's not worth it. If you are going to do it, please don't run over the seams. I agree with everyone to go around them. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Originally posted by DawnCavanaugh Shana, you can do denim...try a 4.5 needle. I have quilted through corduroy, heavy decorator fabric, doubled denim and doubled double knit with few problems (had to raise the foot on the corduroy as it tended to burnish the surface.) Or you could suggest she let you "tie" the quilt with decorative yarn or thread (see my article in the latest Fons and Porter mag.) You could even tack the layers together with a decorative motif...a star or swirl every here and there spaced evenly in the centers of the strips. Remind her that the more you quilt it, even with large meandering, the stiffer it will feel. Good luck! Thanks, Dawn! I followed your advice. I inserted a 4.5 needle and I was super careful; went slow 10SPI on stitch regulator. I was able to quilt it, but the seams were very thick in places so I did not go over the seams unless absolutely necessary. Let's just say it's "nailed together" and I have no idea how she is going to get that binding on! Thanks everyone for your support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seakitten Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 so, WHERE ARE THE PICTURES??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 LOL! Sorry I didn't take pictures... it's nothing fabulous to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 It crosses my mind that this poor person may get under her new quilt and may not be able to crawl back out again if it is that heavy!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramona Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Glad to hear you got it quilted. I was going to ask if you could tell her next time to press all the seams open. She didn't put any of the jean seams in did she? Whew, glad it was you and not me. I have a hard time with the flannels. I did do a jean quilt once that had denim as sashing. Boy, was that ever heavy. She also wanted batting in there with flannel backing and it was extra long. Could hardly pick it up when it was done. Would hate to sleep under it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janette Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Well done Shana for finishing up that huge denim quilt top. I am not sure I would be so brave. Mind you I dont think i would have been able to lift if off the frame !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene Epp Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Hi Shana, I bought my first APQS Ultimate I after taking a class with Marilyn Badger way back in '97. I took along a denim quilt from the class I taught on recycled denims and asked her if the machine would be able to get through the layers. She said "Yes. No problem." I quilted MANY denim quilts with never a problem. My pattern was a 9-Patch with double sashings and posts, and if I say so myself, they were all beautiful. This was in the days before stitch regulators and not many nice roll patterns to choose from. My first ones got Cotton Candy because that was the only decent pattern I could get my hands on. That's how I got my longarm business started. I taught the denim class and then quilted the tops the students had made. I used to buy up used denims at Value Village and had a whole stock room of them, hanging on hangers for students to buy. We had beautiful florals, textures, plaids, every color you can think of and of course the plain denims to work with. The only time I had a problem was when someone combined corduroy with the denim. I was using poly thread, but it broke everytime I hit the corduroy. I simply moved up to a 4.5 or 5 needle and continued on without any problems. There are some VERY heavy denims out there, but I only got one of those. I simply meandered around the heavy seam intersections so I didn't have to raise the hopping foot. ALL of the quilts had batting, some cotton, some polyester, and many used sheets for backing. The sheets caused WAY more problems than the denims did. You can do this!I know you can, and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. You could charge a bit more for the "supposed trouble" you're going to have, but that's just a bonus.:cool: Oops! I've taken too long to write this and I see you've finished it. Good on ya'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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