I have an Instagram page under the name of sewingkateplus4. I have been a member since the end of April. I have come to love Instagram as much a pinterest! Its full of pretty pictures of pretty things and like minded people. I get a lot of inspiration from there. I also love following some of my favourite people and companies. Not so long ago I discovered Lewis and Irene fabrics. They are a UK based fabric manufacturers, and they make some gorgeous great quality cottons ideal for quilting or clothes making. Their designs range from whimsical, to traditional, to modern, to funky, to retro, everything you could want! I adore all of them.
I followed them on Instagram pretty much as soon as I joined. One day a couple of weeks ago I was notified that they'd tagged me in a post, and that I'd won a jelly roll just for being a follower! I was amazed, I never win anything, and now I have! They sent it out and I received it a few days later.
It is the Minshan range. Gorgeous Asian inspired patterns. The colour palette is so vibrant and unique. I had never done quilting before, but this jelly roll was just the inspiration I needed.
I started by cutting the long strips that come in a jelly roll into 2.5 in x 2.5 in squares. I used my rotary cutter, quilting ruler and cutting mat to attempt some accuracy - I still wasn't very accurate haha.
I used these measurements for the plainer patterns. For the more intricate patterns I cut the pieces slightly bigger - 4.5 in x 2.5 in - so you could see more of the pattern.
As you can see so very vibrant! I wanted the quilt to be usable by us as a whole family, so it needed to be fairly big so a few of us can snuggle under it at a time. I calculated I needed 1,200 2 in squares (taking into account a 1/4 in seam allowance). I raided my huge 'scrap bag'. I managed to get ehough fabric that I think coordinates, although I think I would of liked some more black and vibrant pink.
and this is what 1,200 2 in squares look like haha. I needed a count down to keep track!
Next was to sort out what order I was going to piece them together in. I originally thought of doing a sort of abstract pattern, placing random coloured squares randomly. But when I tried it out it didn't work well at all. So I settled on the idea of alternating rows of different colours, alternating the patterns as I went along.
Next I started piecing together on the sewing machine. I just used a straight stitch for this. It took me over a week to do, interspersed with other projects.
The finish size was rather larger than I bargained for and I still have quite a few squares left over! yay! I also didn't do very well at being accurate, or straight for that matter haha. As a result once I placed it onto the wadding (I bought wadding with backing fabric attached as I was advised this is easier for new quilters - it is and I recommend it!) it was far too wide so needed trimming off along the sides - up to 12 in in places!
Next was the actual quilting. I've never been sure what this was haha, so I had to look it up! It's basically kind of like top stitching I guess? but a lot more fancy, intricate, skilled and time consuming. As I hadn't been very precise in my cutting or piecing together I decided not to break the trend and so took a more random approach to the quilting. I went across at either side of the seams on each row with a 1/4 in gap. I then just quilted down in a wavy-ish, sometimes criss crossing about twice every 2 in. I just had fun with it. Respect to people who quilt all the time, as I wouldn't want to arm wrestle them! You do need bigger muscles than I have! Its hard work and a lot of grunting was complained about by the hubby as he tried to watch TV haha.
As I said I'd wished I'd had more black and vibrant pink in it, so the fabric I bought to bind it with had those two colours in.
I knew I needed approx. 7 metres in length so I divided the fabric length (1 & 3/4 metres - all they had left) by 7 (110 cm width) and cut those widths. I then folded into double fold bias and ironed! Don't know if this was right or not but it worked! haha.
I then applied the binding like I would do normal width binding and mitered the corners. Finally finished!
and the girly enjoying it:
It might not be the prettiest but I'm uber proud of myself for finishing it and all of us love it - can't wait for some chilly nights to use it! Every one of them has had a snuggle under it even in this heatwave - hubby included haha.
Oh and what have I done with cut offs? well, I sewed some of the left over binding on to make it into a sort of regular shaped rectangle and gave making a quilted purse a go.
I just placed the pattern pieces onto the bodged fabric ad added the backed wadding, quilting in a diamond pattern. I think it looks rather abstract and kind of arty. I really like it. I've got enough left over to make another of these, and I'm thinking a Christmas present for someone :). I enjoyed quilting and will definitely do some more.
No comments:
Post a Comment