I completed my first quilt! I think I can finally stop joking that I can't sew in a straight line.
This quilting journey began in late April with a chance encounter with admiration of this completed quilt. I'm a huge fan of blue and at the time I was working on a sashiko embroidery so the Japanese theme appealed to me. The only reason I was in the quilting shop was to buy white embroidery thread.
The shop assistant said it was all made with a jelly roll and a great entry project just sew together the precut fabric strips with a quarter-inch foot.
An impulse purchase? Sure, but I'll try anything once.
Sewing began in September by disregarding the instructions to use five strips to make 20 squares and therefore a square quilt because there were a few strips that didn't quite suit my style. So rather than four squares of five strips I ended up with three squares styles of six strips. As a quilting novice, I was unaware this would create a weird shape 3 x 6 blocks didn't create a nice big spread.
Cue the challenge to fill the gaps, option 1 corner squares or option 2 centre feature. I did have some small leftover joined strips which became the mini squares and the seed for my back fill.
The next lesson to be learnt was blocking these odd shapes to create a square. I didn't know that you really don't go around interior corners and spent a while pondering how to align the fabric to make it work. Somehow I realised I needed to cover the length and created a piecing plan, measuring and cutting as I went because I still hadn't fully understood the seam calculations.
Proud first quilt moment, the top is finished! A trip back to the quilt shop for the backing fabric, binding and wool batting.
Another rookie mistake, my top was too wide for a single fabric piece back! So more sewing to make something wide enough. Not a problem, just a speed bump to getting it finished. As the pattern has a direction I decided to put a centre seam so it could flow either way.
With a red border and some yellow corner squares the back was finished in time for rookie mistake number four, the backing is generally made larger than the top. Oops. I decided to make this one work now because the design with the corner squares needs to be even on all sides to make sense.
Basted and to the machine! Wow, stitching in the ditch with a walking foot is boring! I'm all about visible progress and this basically has none. I switched from yellow bottom thread to navy to hide some of the imperfect block seams where they don't quite line up. Then tied off and buried all the threads which is more satisfying than the quilting because you can see them disappear!
I was intimidated at the thought of making my own binding, but the shop assistant convinced me it was the only way and actually pretty easy. After playing with different widths I choose 2 and a quarter inches and made the binding, deciding to reverse the backing fabric to have a hint of white rather than full pattern to avoid directionality issues.
I tried stitching the binding into the ditch but my can't sew in a straight line came back and it looked horrible so instead, I hand-finished taking about two hours.
A huge thanks to educators on YouTube.
New tools mastered.
- Quarter-inch sewing foot, hello my new friend. How have I not known about this foot before? I already had it in my kit so it must have come with the sewing machine
- Walking foot, I'd always wondered what the contraption was and what you might use it for! Another in the 'it came with the machine' category.
- Quilting ruler and rotary cutter, these came in over halfway through the project, I've been bitten by the quilting bug so may as well stop using the measuring tape and scissors (I may have never finished the project if I didn't buy these to be honest).
- Ironing corner, I finally set up the iron and ironing board in a place that doesn't need to be moved, the joy of a laundry room.
To say I'm pleased with myself would be an understatement. To say I've gotten the quilting bug would also be an understatement! Plans for quilting projects two and three are underway and fabric for projects four, five and six may also have been secured!
Happy to be back crafting, back blogging and back to finding amazing work in the Needlework Monday community
