Category Archives: Stuff to make

First Quilt: Step 4

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Brigit, I’m so glad you’re metaphorically holding my hand through this quilt project. Of course, I wish you were actually here because I’d find a way to get you to make the quilt for me. Ask any of my family members: I’m good at getting people to do stuff for me.

But I did the work myself and have crippling carpal tunnel to prove it. I cut out 728 4×4″ squares over the weekend. Before I began, I was beguiled by the the term “self-healing cutting mat” that’s mentioned in all of my quilting books. It sounds so New Age, right? But 728 squares later, my cutting mat is anything but healed. It is rather gouged, in fact. Apparently I don’t have a light touch with the rotary cutter.

Next purchase: Three hundred safety pins! My god.

Quilting backing how-to

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This quilt top started with some dainty floral fabric (Olympus Soleil) that went on sale, and the idea to make a picnic quilt. I used an easy stacked coin pattern and worked the florals in with mostly green solids. For the backing, I decided to use the same solid olive fabric that I plan to use for the binding. As often happens, I got around to making the quilt months after I bought the fabric. Since then, I’ve borrowed little bits and pieces from the yards of olive that I bought, so now I don’t have quite enough for the binding and backing. In come the scraps.

A quilt backing needs to be 3 inches bigger on all sides than the quilt top. My quilt will be 80 x 85″. Somehow I need to make an 86 x 91″ rectangle from 150 x 42″ of fabric for the backing. Backing should be made from large pieces of fabric so it isn’t too bulky with seams and doesn’t compete with the front. I will make four rectangles that are 37 x 42, and then make an 86 x 18 ” strip from the largest scraps to fill the gap in the length, I can put this strip at the top or in the middle (keeping in mind that three inches of the backing edges will be cut away when the quilt sandwich is complete). I’ll also need to add two inches to the width, and I think I’ll use one of the other solid greens from the front.

If you do have enough of one piece of fabric, then you just piece it together to make the size rectangle you need. Which, of course, is simpler and looks very elegant. Denyse Schmidt’s quilts often have nicely contrasting solids (and sometimes bold prints) for quilt backs that remind me of a pretty coat lining.

Fabric Store Field Trip (First Quilt, Step 3)

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I can’t bring myself to actually buy fabric for my first-ever quilt. Putting down hard cold cash is such a commitment. And entering a fabric store as the guileless, eye-batting quilt virgin that I am, I may end up with a real schmuck (yards of polyester? cordoroy?). So, I’m settling for a noncommital trip to the fabric store–a lunch with the fabric store, not dinner.

One thing I learned: fat quarters don’t have anything to do with Mardi Gras (I imagined Fat Tuesday plus French Quarter). They are quarter-yards of fabric, usually 18″ x 22.”

Some things I still don’t get: Brigit and other quilters out there, what do you use for backing? And where do you buy it? My pattern recommends unbleached cotton muslin, but I’m not sure that makes sense for my quilt. What do you suggest?

Batting–where do you buy cotton batting? Is poly just too grody? (And is that how you spell grody?)

Quilt Colors! (Step 2)

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A month or so ago I resolved to make my first quilt–something that still seems like a sin of hubris. The Audacity of Quilting! So here I am, taking my second, wobbly step. I have a pattern (the Ollalieberry Ice Cream Quilt by Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy). To avoid the real next step (fabric selection), I sneaked in a half-step: palette!

For a long time, I’ve loved the colors of Ray Eames‘s Crosspatch fabric design (this is a sketch of it, from 1947). The fabric lends itself to quilt inspiration: all those little squares.

Inspired by Brigit’s origami paper sketches, I cut out squares of Benjamin Moore paint chips and played around. Very satisfying–I highly recommend paint chip collage. If only quilting were that easy . . .

The quilt calls for a mix of patterns and one solid, so this is a generalized color scheme not an actual one. I think I’d like the solid to be pale gray and the patterns to be pink/red/orange. Brigit, what do you think? Should I stick with white as the solid? I like all the pretty flower prints that Alicia uses in her quilt but know they wouldn’t fit into my house–so I’m guessing I’ll end up with brighter, geometric patterns.

Next step: fabric store.

Doll’s sleeping bag

Posted in Kids, Sewing, Stuff to make by

At my house we spend quite a lot of time studying the American Girl catalog. A certain member of my household–who has been saving her allowance since January–was verging on the obsessive. So, I thought making something for the girls would be a welcome distraction. These sleeping bags were perfect. They capture the mini-perfection of the real thing. My daughter picked out the fabric, and even did a little of the machine sewing–thrilling! To make your very own AG sleeping bag click here: Doll’s sleeping bag. If you can sew a zipper and do some very basic quilting then you can make one of these in an hour or two. (I made matching pillows from the leftover fabric–two rectangles sewn together and filled with fluff.)

So cozy!