Bari J.

November/December Adventures in Quilting and Sewing: Part Three

November/December Adventures in Quilting and Sewing: Part Three

My two months of non-stop sewing continues...

I also started a crazy quilt with Splendor 1920 this month. I'll need 25 of these blocks to finish, but I'm well on my way with 15. I'm really excited.

This are constructed using muslin as a base. And sewing using the "stitch and flip
 method. I simply place a piece of scrap fabric, right side up on top of the muslin. Then a second piece is placed on top right side facing the first piece. I then sew a 1/4" seam allowance, and flip the second piece right side up, and press. I continue until I've filled the entire square. Then I trim to the original block size. Which, in this case is 12 1/2" unfinished.

Obviously each of the blocks end up looking completely different, depending on what scrap I happened to grab...

There are some in which I left the selvedges on... My mom asked me why I "left the tags on"... 

And I've decided to decoratively top stitch random blocks with my Aurifil 12 wt Splendor 1920 box of threads. I did these all on the machine! Not by hand.

And there will also be random blocks that I've free motion quilted raw edged motifs to... for little added surprises everywhere.

I plan to make this a king size quilt as I have never actually made a quilt for my own bed, believe it or not. So in the end it will be five rows of five squares set on point with 2 1/2" sashing. 

I'm using "Nocturnal" from Art Gallery Pure Elements collection for the sashing.

Still and yet... I had gifts to make this month too. All the crazy quilting and free motion quilting did lead up to that... I'm getting there... see part four for more.

 

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 5. Fabric Collage Embellished Skirt

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 5. Fabric Collage Embellished Skirt   

You probably already know this... I love fabric collage. I think it works on just about anything. I've done wall hangings, pillows, embellished sweaters, quilt edges, jeans and lots more. For this project, I embellished a jean skirt. If you were at quilt market you might have seen me wearing it. I actually did this in the hotel room the night before the show opened.

This is super easy to do. If you don't have experience with free motion quilting, this is also an easy way to get started practicing because it's just so forgiving. If your stitches appear too long or short, just go over them again. You are simply going to doodle. Watch me do it in the video below.

For this project you'll need about 20 or so raw edged fabric motifs. Mine are from LillyBelle in the both colorways. I used Aurifil 4651 which is a variegated thread for the quilting. And you'll need a sewng machine that has free motion quilting capability (feed dogs can go down and a quilting foot). You'll also need a piece of muslin to go underneath your motifs where they will hang off the edge. Quilting gloves are optional, but really help you grip the fabric to move it.

1. Lay the muslin on top of your jean skirt where you will be putting the motifs. It can hang off the bottom edge.

2. Lay out your motifs in a manner that is pleasing to you. Make sure that if it is going of the edge, they are on top of the muslin which you will use as a base.

3. Pin all motifs in place or use a washable glue stick to hold them down. You don't want them flapping about as you are quilting.

4. Free motion quilt/doodle them all into place.

5. Cut off the excess muslin up to the edges of the motifs.

6. Zig zag stitch the raw edges along the bottom with a tight stitch. You could go around the edge three times making each round a shorter stitch to mimic a satin stitch or you could also serge the edges.

7. Wash the skirt to give the pieces a frayed
look.

Here's a short video in which I show you how to free motion quilt for fabric collage. Happy stitching!