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Quite possible the best homemade camping bedding piece of equipment is a denim quilt. They are easy to make and do not actually require much in the way of sewing skills. They are also economical. These quilts are made from jeans that are past their prime and have holes in the knees and/or other unmentionable areas and mom will not allow them to be worn out of the house. For those of you that love to recycle, here is a way to make something extremely useful and attractive from something others simply throw away. They are very, very warm. There is nothing like snuggling down beneath a toasty denim quilt on a chilly evening when camping.
I would suggest that you start with a small quilt, such as a twin bed size. For a quilt, you will need probably 60-100 pairs of worn out jeans. It is a good idea to save old jeans until you have enough to make a quilt, or beg, borrow and steal them from friends and family. The amount of jeans needed will vary; depending on the size of quilt you are making and the amount of usable denim in each pair of jeans. You will also need to decide how large you want your quilt blocks to be. If you have a lot of adult jeans, I suggest squares at least 5”x 5”, or 6”x 6”. If you are using children’s jeans, change the size of your squares accordingly. You will want to cut a sturdy cardboard square in the size of your quilt blocks. You will also need scissors, a sewing machine, appropriately sized batting, (this is the stuffing that will go in between the front and back and is sold at any fabric store), enough flannel fabric for the back of the quilt, one skein of yarn, any color, and a large tapestry needle.
Using your quilt square as a template cut out squares on every usable part of the jeans. That is, any part that is not extremely worn or has holes. The backs of the thighs and below the knees are usually excellent spots. Trace the cardboard square in pencil on the jeans. Turn the jeans inside out if you are having a problem seeing the pencil lines. When you have enough, use your sewing machine to sew the squares together with a ¼” seam on each side. It is best to sew the squares side by side to form a row as long as you want your quilt to be, and them sew the rows of squares together.
Sew the yards of flannel together for the back of the quilt. It should be larger than the denim squares by about 1 ½”. In a large area, (I use my family room floor) lay the flannel down, then the batting on top of that and finally the denim squares that you have sewn together. Fold the flannel edge over the top edge of the denim hiding the raw edges, and pin it all the way around the quilt. Using the sewing machine, sew this folded edge down; making sure that it goes through the edge of the denim.
Now it is time to tie the quilt. Lay the quilt out on the floor again. Take the skein of yarn and cut a piece about a yard long. Starting at the top of the quilt, stick the needle in the middle of a square, and bring it back up through the same square very close to the spot where you went down into the quilt. Pull the yarn up through the quilt. Cut the yarn so that there is about six inches of yarn threaded through the quilt. Tie the yarn in a square knot, and do the same thing for every other square, alternating square on each row.
When making these quilts, use fun flannel and yarn that matches the flannel. If you are going to use it when camping, I suggest not backing the quilt with a light colored or white flannel, and it gets dirty very easily. Plaid flannels look really great on these. Denim quilts are very durable and will last a long time if taken care of. They also make great gifts for the camping enthusiasts in your life.
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