Not So Straight and Narrow Quilt

This quilt was based on the Pick & Choose quilt that I started in the Improvisational Patchwork class with Denyse Schmidt last summer. I love that quilt, and I love the improvisational style. However, what I wanted to do this time around was create a design that incorporated improvisational aspects that would be different every time around, but would still be recognizable as the same design every time. That way customers could order this quilt and have some reasonable expectation of what they were going to get, while still getting something completely unique. Make sense?

Pick & Choose Quilt

I started by sketching out the blocks from the Pick & Choose quilt and making notes about what I did or didn’t like about them for this new quilt. From there I decided on some basic principles for the piecing of the center strips that I could use as the basis for the blocks in this quilt.

Next was to decide the colors. For the Pick & Choose quilt I was forced to use what was at hand. This time I could make some decisions up front.

I still wanted to use the Prints Charming Paisley Garden print that I had used in the Pick & Choose quilt, so I started with that and my RK Kona Cotton color card. I ordered up a bunch of cuts of fabrics that I thought might go and started testing out various combinations. This is one set of colors that I looked at (not the final version).

And here it is in black and white. This is something I do *a lot*, and that you will see a lot of pictures of as I take you through the making of these quilts. There are a lot of things that are more apparent in black in white than in color, like the pattern or repetition of a fabric within a design (though that’s not relevant at this point in the process, of course).

I also have this thing about varying the values (I did a post on values a while back). It’s just part of the way I design. I am not particularly drawn to color combinations where everything is the same value. Colors tend to look kind of yucky together if they are all the same value, but will “sing” a bit more if there is some value contrast. And my eye is not trained well enough to always distinguish values accurately, so I use the old black-and-white photo trick to give me an accurate read on the values.

So, once the design parameters and the colors were (mostly) chosen, I started to sew. I’ll show you my initial design testing in the next post, so stay tuned!

Can you believe that this MoMo Wonderland twill fabric has lasted in my stash this long? This was two fabric lines ago for this designer. I got this on a trip to Satin Moon in San Francisco a year ago. I do still have the the tomato colorway and it might just end up as a skirt like this as well. We’ll have to wait and see.

My sister recently sent me a wool skirt from the Gap that she really loves and wanted to know if I could copy it and make her another. It was just a simple A-line skirt, cut on the bias, with a center back zipper (it had an invisible one) and two darts in the back. It was my first time really copying ready-to-wear (unless you count copying underwear, but I was able to cut that apart to make pattern pieces!). This skirt was easy peasy to copy. In fact, I was able to make some minor adjustments to the pattern for her and, voila! I had a skirt for me.

Oh, and the muslin I made for her actually fits as well!

And here I am at Hart’s wearing my awesome new skirt, with Dolin who is wearing the awesome dress that she just finished! We are having our photo taken with a display of Kokka fabrics like it’s some kind of movie star. Dorky, but fun!

I took a TON of pictures. Way too many to include in this post, so if you want to see more, the entire set is on Flickr.

**Please note that I didn’t do a thorough inventory of the store, so if I say I didn’t see something, it doesn’t mean they definitely didn’t have it, I just didn’t see it.

Web site: Hart’s Fabric

Location: 1620 Seabright Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA

The store is hard to miss, unlike some other fabric stores I’ve been to.

The store has two main sections. On the left side are all the patterns, quilting cottons, garment fabrics, eco fabrics, batting, sales section, basic notions, and interfacing.

On the right side are all the decorator fabrics, outdoor fabrics, laminated cottons, buttons, ribbons, trims, pillow forms, and foam.

Basic Fabrics: It’s hard to know where to start here, but I’ll consider basic fabrics to be the quilting cottons. They had a HUGE color wall with all kinds of great novelty prints mixed in.

You can see that the top shelf has a wide selection of solids. This photo doesn’t even show you the fabrics with the black or white backgrounds that were down at the far end. There was another section with just stripes and plaids, and a big display of fat quarters.

They carry only a few batiks and Asian fabrics, but it seemed like they had just about everything else!

Designer Fabrics: A strong selection of these, including Amy Butler’s Love, Heather Ross’s Far Far Away, Momo’s Freebird, Lizzy House’s Castle Peeps, Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks, and tons of Alexander Henry. Too much to even take in really. They also had a lot of what I would classify as the really fancy and harder to find designer stuff. Like…

Heather Ross’s double gauze,

Anna Maria Horner voile,

Liberty,

Echino,

Kokka,

and Nani Iro double gauze.

Other Types of Fabrics: Really, I think I need about 20 new categories for this shop tour, but it’s just too overwhelming! Please check out the entire Flickr set and the Hart’s web site for all the details. I definitely saw laminated cottons,

flannels,

(yes, all of this is flannel!)

and outdoor fabrics, including some really nice vinyl.

They also had felt in sheets and on bolts by the yard.

Garment Fabrics: Finally somewhere to buy garment fabrics! I now have on my list Britex in SF, Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkeley, and Hart’s in Santa Cruz. None close, or close to each other for that matter, but doable when necessary.

A woman working there told us they had over 110 different solid color knits. They also had a decent selection of patterned knits.

How about this display of silks?

They also had courduroy, linens, linen blends, and fleece. There web site says they have twill, wool, lace, linings, denim, ticking, hemp, etc. It’s impossible to see everything in one visit!

Sales Section: I didn’t get a photo of the sales section. It was fairly small and the discounts were not steep (a lot at 20%).

Classroom: I did not see a classroom or anything about classes, but hasn’t Heather Ross taught her Mendocino Sundress class here? I’m not sure where she did that….

Batting and Notions: I’d say this place is second only to Fabrics R US with regard to trim selection.

This is just the section of ribbons.

They also had a section of decorator trims, tons of buttons, and a wall of notions. They were lighter on the quilting notions (not a huge ruler selection, for example), but had TONS of garment sewing notions, including bits for making undergarments, etc. They also had drapery and curtain hardware, including giant grommets.

They had a decent selection of batting and interfacing, as well as tons of pillow forms and even foam in big rolls (I assume they sell it by the yard).

Oh, and zippers by the yard! So awesome!

Machines: This shop does not sell machines.

Patterns and Books: I admit I didn’t look super closely here, but they did carry Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, ModKids, Favorite Things, Oliver + S, and Colette patterns for sure. They also have McCall’s and Burda patterns — the same giant ugly pattern drawers they have at JoAnn’s! I’ve never seen that anywhere but JoAnn’s (or Wal-mart) before.

There was also this wall of books that I never got around to perusing:

So, in conclusion, we spent two hours in this store (oh yes we did!) and I still feel like I didn’t see everything, even on the side with all the quilting cottons and garment fabrics. We basically just walked through the decorator side since we came in the back door on that side. Still tons to explore over there!

They do sell online, but I encourage you to make the pilgrimage if you live in the area. You won’t be sorry!

I knew I didn’t want to just topstitch it. That’s how I’ve hemmed pretty much all the clothes I’ve made for myself recently, and it just wasn’t the look I was going for with this skirt. Then I had this thought — hem it by hand! I had a little internal discussion, with part of me not wanting to do something that was going to take “forever” (clearly one part of my brain is highly prone to exaggeration). In the end I knew it was the only method that would produce the look I wanted.

So, I gathered my little scissors, a spool of thread, a hand sewing needle, and a thimble and sat in my favorite chair. It was quiet and the windows were open, so I listened to the cars and the crickets and it was a lovely peaceful 45 minutes. And it turned out beautifully.

I encourage you all to choose a step in your next sewing project and do it by hand. Just something small. If you normally attach the buttons with a machine, do it by hand. If you normally attach your quilt binding with a machine, do it by hand. If you normally do your zipper installation or your topstitching or your embroidery with a machine, do it by hand. It will not only slow down your body, but also your breathing, and your mind.

Is there something that you can do with your machine that you tend to do by hand, just because you enjoy the process?

I use a lot of solids in the quilts I sell. Solids do not come with labels on the selvage edges, which can make similar shades VERY hard to tell apart, even when you have one of those color cards (got mine at Pink Chalk Fabrics).

Then the other day I was on the Robert Kaufman blog when I stumbled across a fabulous tip.

Here’s the tip: Use one of those archival pens to write the color name and/or number on the selvage edge. If you cut off that part of the fabric, just rewrite the name further down the edge on the piece that is left. So brilliant. SOoooooo brilliant.

So, I went through and labeled all the solids I had. Aren’t they pretty?

I’ll be labeling all my solid fabrics as soon as they come in the door from now on, so I don’t end up with all that chaos again!

Hand quilting on my Ducks in a Row quilt.

I loved Melinda’s observation that “it isn’t a quilt until it is quilted,” and PioneerValleyGirl’s comment, “I don’t see how the handpiecing can be wasted, except perhaps by languishing unfinished.” This makes a lot of sense to me! If attempting to hand quilt this means that I might not ever get it done, then machine quilting it probably IS the better choice!

I was just telling some students in my quilting class yesterday that they shouldn’t worry too much about the “rules” — as far as I’m concerned if it’s their quilt they should do what they want. I should take my own advice!

I love that you focused on the importance of this being a joint project between me and my dad. That’s what I’m so excited about too!

Machine quilting on my Zen Quilt.

When my dad finishes the quilt and sends it to me, I’ll have a look at it and decide then what I’m going to do. I’m going to let the design make the decision for me. As Michelle put it, “there are just some things that are done better with machine quilting.” And there are some things that are done better with hand quilting. I will choose a design that complements the piecing. If that requires machine quilting, then it will be machine quilted. If it requires hand quilting, then it will be hand quilted.

I’ll sum up the entire discussion with this quote from Bobbie23nc who said, “I say it’s the love in the stitches that really matters.”

Amen, Bobbie, amen.

As part of my Open House preparations I wanted to do a quick reversible makeover of the lamp shades in our bedroom. What better than little slip covers? These were SO easy to make that I’m now tempted to cover all the drab off-white lamp shades in our house. I have not yet tested this on the more squarish lamp shades, but I have a feeling that it will work pretty much the same.

Basically, these are little bands of fabric with elastic at the top and bottom. I went with a slightly unorthodox method of not sewing the side seam until after I made the casings, because trying to fold under the hem for the casings after it was already a circle was way too hard. I’m all for making it easy!

Enjoy!

Light Me Up Lamp Shade Slip Cover Tutorial

Materials

• One piece of fabric big enough to trace your lamp shade plus about 4 inches. This will depend on how big your lamp shade is, so you’ll just have to test it. My fairly small lamp shade required about 3/4 of a yard.
• Thread
• 1/4 inch wide elastic — measure the circumference of both the top and bottom of your lamp and add them together. You’ll need about 2/3 of this length.

Instructions

1. Trace your lamp shade onto the wrong side of your fabric. Start with a point on your shade that you will recognize when you get back to it again — I started at the shade’s seam. Roll the shade over the fabric, tracing the arc that the top of the shade makes as you go. Stop when the point on the shade where you started is back to the fabric again.

2. Then roll the shade back and trace the arc the bottom of the shade makes. Or you can trace them both at the same time by rolling the shade and tracing a few inches at a time of both the top and bottom, then rolling the shade a bit further, tracing some more, etc.

3. Once you have the outline of the shade, draw lines to connect the ends of the top and bottom arcs. In the photo below, this is the inner shape. We need to add some extra for seam allowances and casings, so add 1/2″ to each short end and 2″ to each of the arcs. The outer shape below is your final pattern piece for your slip cover.

4. Cut out your slip cover along the outside lines.

5. Turn up both the top and bottom arcs 3/4 inch.

6. Press.

7. Unfold that 3/4 inch and press under 1/4 inch. If you really wanted to you could press under the 1/4 inch first, followed by pressing another 1/2 inch. I just find pressing the full amount first is more accurate in the end.

Take your time with the turning and pressing. Because of the curves this is kind of fussy, but it’s the only hard part. After this, you’re practically home free!

This is what it looks like when both curves have been turned under twice and pressed.

8. Pin. I recommend pinning here, since the curves and the bias edges make this not want to behave so well.

9. Stitch both of the long curved edges near the folded edge to form the casings for the elastic.

10. Cut two pieces of elastic to 2/3 of the circumference of each circle. If the top of your lamp is 21 inches and the bottom of your lamp is 30 inches, then cut the elastic for the top casing to 14 inches long and the elastic for the bottom casing to 20 inches long. Insert the elastic into the casings. I stick a safety pin through the end of the elastic and feed it through. If you actually own a bodkin, please feel free to use that!

11. When you get the elastic through, line up the end of the elastic with the end of the casing and pin about 3/4 inch from the end.

This is what it looks like when you have all four ends pinned.

12. Fold the slip cover in half with the right sides together so that the two short ends are lined up with each other. It should look like this.

13. Sew a 1/2 inch seam. This seam will also secure the elastic.

14. Finish this seam allowance. I used the seam/overcast stitch on my machine. A zig-zag is good too. This just makes it look neat and keeps it from unraveling when you wash it.

15. Press the seam and turn right side out. Slip onto your lamp shade. Here’s the top view on the lamp shade.

And here’s the front view.

And here it is on the lamp. Pretty cute, eh? And super duper easy!

Please let me know if you need any clarifications.

This was really fun and could easily be customized with all kinds of trims. You could also trace the shade onto paper (tape pieces together to get something big enough if you need to), and sew strips of fabric together until you have something big enough to lay your pattern piece on. Like an improv quilt as a lamp shade! I might have to try that! This time I was aiming for simple and not too attention-grabbing, since I want the focus to be on the quilts!

This tutorial and loads of other free tutorials are indexed at Kostenlose-schnittmuster.de. The site is in German, but you can view the category list in English, and the tutorials are in a variety of languages.

Detail of my Dad’s Long Diamonds Quilt.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking at our Family Quilts. While the piecing methods varied from all hand piecing to a combination of hand and machine piecing (I don’t think any were done completely by machine), all of the quilts were quilted by hand.

Detail of hand quilting from the my Great Grandmother’s Orange Double Wedding Ring Quilt.

Some people are quilting purists. If a quilt is pieced by hand, the purists believe you are “ruining” it if you quilt it by machine. All that time spent hand piecing, wasted! Purists feel that if you hand piece, you MUST hand quilt.

So, my issue is this, if my father goes to all the trouble to hand piece a quilt, am I “ruining” it if I machine quilt it? That’s what he intends for me to do with it and he doesn’t see any problem with machine quilting it. The purist lurking in the back of my brain may not let me do that, but hand quilting 78 x 88 inches? Wow. That’s way more hand quilting than I’ve ever even considered doing for one project. My biggest hand-quilting project was 42 x 42 inches and it took me an estimated 45-50 hours to complete.

Detail of quilting on my Stacked Coins Quilt.

By the way, I think it’s totally awesome to split a quilt project like this with my dad, even though we live 2500 miles apart! Which is why I want to do the quilting myself, whichever way I decide is the way to go.

What do you think? Are you a purist and believe it should be hand quilted? Or do you think it’s okay to just go with my father’s request and machine quilt it?