Top tips for quilting denim
I've been making quilts from denim for a while now, so I thought it was time to share some of my tips for quilting it. Denim has some quirks that are worth considering before you start, especially since one of them is that it can be a real pain to unpick if you're quilting along the grain of the fabric.
Choosing a backing
Denim quilts are heavy, so it’s a good idea to think about the quilt’s end use before choosing a backing. If it’s going to be a bed quilt, you might want to go with something really lightweight, like double gauze, shot cotton, lawn, or another fine cotton. I’ve mostly backed mine with a lightweight Indian block-printed cotton.
At one point, I thought skipping the batting and backing the quilt with a blanket would make it lighter. Boy, was I wrong! That quilt weighs a ton.
The Blue Giant wall hanging backed with mud resist, block printed, indigo dyed cotton
Quilting by hand
I love the effect of hand quilting on denim, but honestly, you have to be slightly nuts to do it. It’s really hard on your hands, but I think the result is worth it. When I hand quilt denim, I use sashiko thread with a sashiko needle, a hard thimble on the middle finger of my right hand (to push the needle through), and an adhesive thimble pad on the middle finger of my left hand (so I can feel when to direct the needle back up).
I don’t use a hoop because the fabric is too bulky. Instead, I lay it flat on my dining table and work from there.
The original Blue Giant quilt, all hand quilted.
Quilting on a domestic machine
The sample below, from left to right, shows thread in weights 50, 40, 28, and 12. The lines are stitched parallel to the grain of the denim. The needle sizes were:
70 for the 50wt and 40wt
80 for the 28wt
90 for the 12wt
The bobbin thread was 40wt across all samples. As you can see, the lighter-weight threads almost disappear into the grain of the fabric.
The next sample shows the same threads, same needles, same stitch length, and same denim – only this time, the lines are stitched across the grain. The difference is striking, isn’t it?
More considerations...
This first picture shows what happens when quilting along the grain and transitioning from denim to quilting cotton and back again. It also highlights what happens when seams are pressed towards the fabric. See that ridge running across the centre? That’s the dip between two half-inch seams (and yes, you still get it with quarter-inch seams). I sew the Blue Giant with half-inch seams due to the piece sizes.
The next picture shows what happens when you quilt across the grain, moving from denim to fabric to denim. Here, there’s very little difference in how the thread appears on each material. In this case, the seams are pressed open, so there’s no ridge.
What if your denim pieces run in different directions?
My preference is to use a heavier thread and choose a quilting pattern to suit. The wall-hanging version of Blue Giant is a good example – some quilting lines run parallel, some perpendicular, and some diagonal to the grain (all seams are half an inch and pressed open).
The quilting lines were all stitched in 12wt hot pink thread. The more horizontal lines blend into the quilt a little (since they follow the grain), but not enough for me to be concerned.
For the Laid Back quilt, I used the same pink 12wt thread along the grain of the denim. If I had continued stitching from the denim into the quilting fabric (horizontally), the stitching would have looked very different on the two materials. To avoid that, I quilted the fabric sections separately.
I chose not to quilt horizontally for two reasons:
The seams are pressed towards the fabric (to avoid bulk at two cross-quilt seams).
I liked the idea of echoing the vertical lines of the piecing.
Now on the longarm
I always quilt with a walking foot, but thankfully, I know some talented people who’ve quilted my patterns in other ways.
First up, Beth (@bessielouwells) quilted her Blue Giant on a longarm with an edge-to-edge pattern. She was surprised by how easy it was – despite it being her first time loading denim onto the machine.
She used a variegated thread (a whole 2,000 yards of it!), and the pattern works well with denim’s tendency to make stitches pop or disappear depending on the sewing direction. Beth used cotton wadding and a flannel backing.
If you’re on Instagram you can pop over and see the completed quilt.
One of my pattern testers for the Laid Back quilt – Katy (@whatkatydid_handmade) – took a completely different approach to quilting this hers, and one that I would never attempt – free-motion on the long arm. Katy told me she would have preferred to use something heavier than 40wt, but with lockdown, travel restrictions and a tester deadline, beggars can't be choosers! As you can see Katy anchored her panels with a 1/4" seam and then she did a range of free-form patterns, that were different on each denim panel.
My favourite part? Where she quilted the name of the pattern into the quilt! I could not love that bit more :-) As you can see, Katy left her fabric strips unquilted as they're quite narrow.
Final thoughts
I hope this has given you a few things to consider for your next denim quilt and shown you that quilting denim isn’t as difficult as it might seem. It’s a bit bulkier, sure, but nothing a good thread and a sharp needle can’t handle.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments!
Happy quilting!