Jenny teams up with Amy Barickman of Indygo Junction to make the Denim Strip Quilt out of Crossroads Denim yardage in this easy quilting tutorial.

Jenny: Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I am here today with Amy Barickman from Indygo Junction.

Jenny: Hi Amy, we’re so glad you’re here.

Amy: Hi Jenny. Thank you. It’s great to be here.

Jenny: Oh gosh, it’s. So we carry Amy’s line of Crossroads Denim. And it is, I mean beautiful colors. I mean even the vest she’s wearing is made out of it. I mean there’s so many things you can do with it. But we’re a quilt shop, you know. And I was wondering, what can we do as a quilt shop with this denim. And I, Amy brought over this book one day. You know, we’ve called her, Have any ideas? You know she brought up this book Dimensional Denim. And I was looking through it and I happened upon this picture right here with this pillow. When I saw that pillow, I was like, Oh my gosh, that is awesome and would make a great quilt. So here’s the pillow right here. Isn’t that darling?

Amy: Here it is. Bright colors.

Jenny: And it’s just darling. So we took the same idea and thought we would turn it into a quilt. So let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. So this one right here is made up of 30 squares. We’ve got five across by six down. And I mean it just goes together quickly, easily. You don’t even have to machine quilt it. It’s just really fun. And we can’t wait to show you how to do it. So the yardage for this quilt that we need is

Amy: We need two yards of each color that you’re going to have in the quilt top and then you’ll need the backing. A yard and a half for the backing and batting as well.

Jenny: Ok so four yards total of fabric for the top and then a yard and a half for that back.

Amy: Correct.

Jenny: Ok, so the first thing we’re going to do is cut out 30 background squares.

Amy: Right.

Jenny: And then we’re going to

Amy: 15 each color

Jenny: And then we’re going to do a method on the top of, it’s called, what is it called now?

Amy: Strip and Stitch

Jenny: Strip and Stitch. I don’t even know if I should be allowed to say that: Strip and Stitch. It doesn’t sound so good.

Amy: Well it’s ok.

Jenny: It’s alright. So anyway basically what we’re doing is we’re, we’re ripping strips aren’t we?

Amy: Yep. That’s all we’re going to do. So we’re going to take the yardage. Measure from the selvedge an inch.

Jenny: Now how many strips per square?

Amy: You’ll have two strips per square. So half and half. So eventually you’ll need 60 strips for the entire quilt.

Jenny: Oh ok. Ok. So and I did one over here that’s all different colors. So it’s just a total of four yards then. But you’re still, still looking at, at your same number of squares and your same number of strips. So, so what if I just didn’t measure that. What if it’s not exactly an inch?

Amy: That is fine. You, it’s all going to work out in the end.

Jenny: This is therapeutic you guys. I love this ripping.

Amy: It is. It can be a lot of fun.

Jenny: So you’re just going to rip these and then they’re kind of curly so what do we do about that?

Amy: I like to press them before we stitch them down.

Jenny: I think that’s probably a really good idea.

Amy: It just helps you get a more exact measurement as you, as you work with the strips.

Jenny: When you go to sew them on

Amy: Right, right. Right, right.

Jenny: So, so it take two strips per each square, correct.

Amy: Right. Right so here’s your two strips.

Jenny: Now Amy, you can see what she’s done here is she’s laid her strips across and then you know, just cut them and pinned them all down. You know me, I’m not really a fan of the pin.

Amy: They hurt sometimes.

Jenny: So I asked permission just to go ahead and sew these on. So what I did, you know, either method. Do what method you feel most comfortable with. But what I did was I lined up the edge, my strip with the edge of this right here and just sewed straight across

Amy: Right, corner to corner

Jenny: And then cut it and went again. So let me just do a couple of these.

Amy: And that method just works really well. I tried it after you showed it to me and thought either, either works.

Jenny: Ya, now one of the things I noticed Amy, is you brought some pieces. I just did mine with like a straight stitch. And you’ve got some pieces where you used all the decorative stitches on the top.

Amy: Right, right. That can be a really fun variation. Add a little bit of creativity. We tried the 12 weight thread. We tried variegated thread. So you can really be a little more creative.

Jenny: Well you know as quilters we don’t always use, use, we don’t always use those fancy stitches so that would be a fun place to use them.

Amy: It really is because your machine is filled with wonderful detail stitches. We’ve done some patterns that have, purse patterns with different embroidery stitches so it’s fun to try it on the quilt as well.

Jenny: Ya. That is fun. And mine is, like mine is just straight here now. Anything we need to know. Like how, how far apart do we something. Kind of randomly.

Amy: I just kind of eyeball it. Just so you have, really it’s personal preference. If you want to see more of the color underneath, you can separate them a little bit farther. If you wanted to keep them closer together

Jenny: You just kind of want to see that color peeking out.

Amy: Right, right. But it’s not, it doesn’t have to, the beauty of this quilt is it’s not perfection. It’s not based on it being perfection when you sew these on.

Jenny: So once you get all these on, your whole block is covered, what do you do Amy?

Amy: Well the next step will be to trim it. So then we’ll be able, ready to piece it together. So here you can see the backside. With our fun little zig zag design. And we’re just going to take the rotary cutter and trim them.

Jenny: So you kind of use that square as your

Amy: As your guide.

Jenny: Ya

Amy: So just get a little closer there.

Jenny: There you go.

Amy: And trim it all off. Quick and easy.

Jenny: That’s awesome. Then one more side.

Amy: One more side and we’ll be ready to move to the next.

Jenny: Just brush those

Amy: There you go. Perfect.

Jenny: I never really did like

Amy: That’s the way we do at our studio too.

Jenny: What do I do with all those scraps and I’m like there’s a drawer. It can go right in a drawer

Amy: And there we are.

Jenny: Oh that is perfect. Alright so let’s show how we put these together. We have some more. You brought some that are finished down here.

Amy: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So here we go. Let see if we can get that right

Jenny: So when, when you put these together they kind of zig zag don’t they?

Amy: Right and you can see they form a square too. We’ll start with the square so we can get an idea of how they piece together.

Jenny: So we’ve got these

Amy: There we go.

Jenny: Now what about all these threads.

Amy: Well. I just pull them off as we go.

Jenny: Ok

Amy: And then eventually once you stitch it together, it stops raveling.

Jenny: Right, right

Amy: So you just kind of have to be patient with that because it is kind of tricky.

Jenny: Alright so then what do we do? Sew this together like a four patch

Amy: Yes. Exactly. Just like a four patch.

Jenny: Shall we just go ahead and do that.

Amy: Sounds good.

Jenny: Alrighty. I just love this idea. I think this is a great use of the denim. You know I’m a

Amy: Well we’ve even done it in recycled denim too and it’s kind of fun.

Jenny: Oh ya, that would be fun.

Amy: But I love all the colors and how we can combine. And what, the quilt you did is just beautiful with the multi colors.

Jenny:Well it’s rare that you get this many colors of denim to choose from. You know usually

Amy: Well

Jenny: If we’re looking at what we found at a thrift store which is generally jeans, regular jeans.

Amy: Right. And that’s what we wanted with the Crossroads line. We wanted to have just a nice palette for people to work with. And we thought of colors that are more related to some of the quilting cottons too. Try to keep in a palette that

Jenny: Oh ya

Amy: The fabric is great for like straps of purses too. Anywhere you need a little heavier weight fabric to work with.

Jenny: So what I’ve done here is I’ve sewn two and two. And alternated my colors. And then I’m just going to sew this together just like we would sew a four patch.

Amy: Yes and I do press.

Jenny: Now when you sew

Amy: You want me to

Jenny: Oh sure if, if you, if that’s what you think we should do. You press those open.

Amy: Yep

Jenny: Because of the bulk. That’s a good idea.

Amy: Ya it’s pretty bulky

Jenny: That’s a good idea.

Amy: So

Jenny: So now when we, when we made the quilt up here we just sewed rows together. You know long rows and then put our rows together. We’re going to sew a little four patch because we want to show you. We tied this quilt. Obviously this isn’t the kind of quilt that you would take to a quilter and have it quilted because you want these, you want these to have some movement. And so, so we actually just tied it like we used to do in the old days. Put a back on it and tied it. And we want to show you how to do that.

Amy: I love that idea of tying. It was so simple to finish it. And just made this such a fun, quick quilt to make.

Jenny: Well I’m all about quick, you know.

Amy: Yes.

Jenny: And so I’m always looking

Amy: I’ve got to get it right here

Jenny: For, oh no we want to go this way, because basically you’re going to put, you know, you’re actually going to sew your rows together long and your blocks are going to up, down, up, down, this way

Amy: The chevron, ya

Jenny: Ya, and then, and then you’re next row that comes in, you’ll come in this way. So just make sure your colors alternate and you know, if you’re doing the quilt. And so we’re just going to sew this together. Make sure that center seam lines up. And, let me start at this end here.

Amy: And off you go.

Jenny: Now once you get your quilt together and we’re going to pretend that this is our whole big quilt here. You know, you will have five rows, or six rows, five in each row. And you’ll have a big quilt done. But we’re going to show you how to do this with, with four because it’s going to make it a lot easier. We’re pretending this is our big quilt.

Amy: Right. Right.

Jenny: So we’re going to put a back and even a little batting in it. So we’re going to put our batting down first like this. And you want to make sure that your batting and your backing are both bigger than your top. Then you’re going to put your top down, er your back down. I’m sorry so batting, back and then what we’re going to do is we’re going to put our top down so it’s right sides together like this. Because this is going to be your pattern.

Amy: Right.

Jenny: Because both the other pieces are going to be a little bigger. So feel to make sure you have batting sticking out on all four sides. We’re going to put some pins in here so this doesn’t slide.

Amy: And then when you trim it

Jenny: I know, I’m not a big pinner but in this case we don’t want it to move.

Amy: We’ve got the nice soft texture of the denim on the

Jenny: How do you get that soft texture in here, it’s just so nice.

Amy: You know the fabric is actually pre-washed and then softened. It’s a sanding process. So there’s definitely a right side and a wrong side. The twill side and then the softer side.

Jenny: That’s actually pretty important to know because denim can be, can be a shrinking.

Amy: Yes, yes, I love that it was pre-washed

Jenny: What I’m doing now is I’m just trimming this up so I have a little bit less bulk to work with. But you want to make sure that you don’t trim too close and you have a couple of inches to play with in case things slide which they sometimes do

Amy: Sometimes do when you’re stitching.

Jenny: Right. Now this is a flip and turn method. We actually did this on the big quilt and it worked great. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to sew all the way around this. We’re going to leave an opening so that we can flip it and turn it. And, and, and then our quilt will be all finished. You won’t even have to bind it.

Amy: Right.

Jenny: Which for some people is like, you know, they’ll be like thrilled about that. And so I’m just sewing around this, all three of my layers are laid together.



Jenny: So now basically what we’re going to do is we are going to trim this off and just flip it right side out. And we have one that is done here.

Amy: And this showcases a fun variation where we added just added a contrasting 12 weight thread

Jenny: I was going to say, this is a little different than ours because it’s got two solid blocks in it with our strips. But the stitching on here shows which is really fun too.

Amy: It kind of repeats the chevron theme that we have in the quilt too.

Jenny: I just never even thought about it.

Amy: Well for school colors too.

Jenny: Oh sure

Amy: This could be a really fun

Jenny: It would be really fun. Now normally we have thread that matches this but we want you guys to be able to see this so we’re going to show you how to tie this. And Amy’s going to show that.

Amy: You want me to take it away.

Jenny: First you need a different kind of needle, don’t you?

Amy: Yes, I’d get a heavier weight needle with

Jenny: A big eye

Amy: With a big eye at the end for the 12 weight thread. It’s a heavier thread. Or you could use some embroidery floss. A few

Jenny: This is a 12 weight thread and basically it’s equal to, like if you’re embroidering, and you split your, your, your embroidery floss into three 2-strand pieces

Amy: Right

Jenny: This is the same weight as two strands.

Amy: Two strands, right.

Jenny: Of embroidery floss.

Amy: Which makes it nice

Jenny: So it makes it a little bit heavier and

Amy: And my method is I just go down and leave a little tail when I tie

Jenny: The tying tail

Amy: The tying tail. And then I come up on the other side. Try to get in, it’s personal preference how close you want to get to that center point.

Jenny: Now also you can use lots of things to tie with. I mean we used to use yarn. I’ve used ribbon

Amy: Uh hum.

Jenny: So you’re kind of going back in the same hole you came out of

Amy: Right. And then I’m going to come back up there.

Jenny: So she’s like took one stitch and then an additional stitch and she’ll come up across from each other and tie it up

Amy: Basically the same

Jenny: Basically this holds your back and your batting and your top all together.

Amy: Right. And when I was tying the black and white quilt

Jenny: You want my finger

Amy: Ya sure.. When I was tying the black and white quilt I found that at first I started doing you know a cross. Essentially doing two ties. And then I got kind of lazy and I kind of was fine with the single, single tie method too. So you could do either way. So you could go ahead and put another stitch opposite. You want to go ahead and try that or not.

Jenny: I just did my, I just did my one straight across there and I did actually knot mine a couple of times just to be sure.

Amy: Just to be sure.

Jenny: And then trimmed my thread. Tying is a great method to hold the quilt together. Here we’ll just do this and live dangerously.

Amy: Be careful. Yes.

Jenny: There we go.



Jenny: So now you know how to tie and it’s the same when you put your big quilt together. We’re just going to have all of our squares together. They’ll be five by six. And you’re going to lay that on your yard and a half of backing. Your yard and a half of batting. Sew all the way around it. Don’t forget to leave that gap

Amy: Correct to turn it

Jenny: And trim it. And turn it. And then you can tie it. And we tied it at every corner. So just to keep everything together and hold it together we tied at every single corner. It went together so quick and easy.

Amy: It’s fun. I love what you came up with with this.

Jenny: Oh it’s awesome. Well this book is full of ideas. There are loads of different things here you can do with the denim in here. Amy actually is, she’s got one of those minds like I do where we’re just bing, bing, bing

Amy: Lots of ideas.

Jenny: And so, actually even the outfits we’re wearing are, are Indygo Junction patterns, which is, which is really fun. I get lots of compliments.

Amy: Well thank you.

Jenny: Anyway we hope you enjoyed this tutorial with Amy Barickman from Indygo Junction on the Crossroads Denim quilt from the MSQC.