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Progress on the Star Quilt!
Dec. 5th, 2020 06:49 amI've made a lot of progress on the star quilt this week. I finished piecing the top a few weeks ago, and then it just languished on my pile because I didn't know how to approach the stage of putting the borders on. I was going to cut with a rotary cutter (which requires a mat and cutter, and then machine sew them on. That ended up being just Too Many hurdles for me to get over, because of a variety of reasons related to it being mum's sewing machine, the sewing room being my dad's office, and the fact that I am Scared of the sewing machine.
But, I have sworn solemnly not to make another quilt until I have made a dent in my pile of three things. One of them is a little mat that needs finished quilting and the binding sewing on. I hate this project now because it looks so ugly and messy, but I don't want to give it up fully because it started me on paper piecing and it deserves better. The other is a quilt top that is one-third pieced. I was so sick of feeling frozen in my projects on Sunday night that on Monday morning I took the day off work (I freelance), drew borders with a fabric pencil and a ruler, cut with scissors, and then sewed them on by hand.
I managed the borders for the front on Monday, and the borders on the back on Tuesday afternoon. I didn't do anything that fancy; I folded my seam allowance over, measured it at intervals to make sure it was about right, clipped it in place, finger pressed it, basted the seam allowance down so it was stable, and then whip-stitched it on. The borders for the back I did the same way, except I pinned rather than basted. I didn't see any difference in result, but I think the basting is more secure if you're not doing it in one job lot like I did.
I have batting to come, and some needles and suchlike, and this morning I got so full of itchiness to quilt that I decided I would cut my binding strips and sew them into a Long Binding Piece. I did do that with a rotary cutter and mat because my parents are out and there was no-one to Judge Me Doing It Wrong...which maybe there should have been, because I did do it wrong. I folded it the wrong way and ended up cutting twice as many as I expected. However! I had also under calculated how much binding I needed, so while I did cut ten strips, I ended up needing six to be safe, so it wasn't too bad. I think I could have got away with my five, but I wanted to make sure I had more than enough. The extra strips are also wide enough to use in paper piecing at the scale I prefer to use, so it's annoying but it won't be wasted.
I sewed the binding strips together on the diagonal, by hand, with a running back-stitch seam (which is a running stitch seam with the odd back-stitch for strength). It was pretty quick and I managed to stick to the line I drew rather than going everywhere, so that's good.
I think Keats thinks I'm pretty bonkers for wanting to attach the binding to the quilt by hand. I do, too, kind of, but I really enjoyed sewing the borders (though I DO need to get up and walk around every so often rather than sit and sew for four hours). I just want to know if I can do it, to be honest.
I've also been practicing my utility quilting for when the batting gets here and I can quilt the quilt. Utility quilting is basically where you use a thick thread and bigger stitches to quilt, rather than the super tiny stitches you use traditionally. You can use different types of stitches, but the most common is also called big stitch quilting, which is just running stitch but big. That's what I was doing on my little bane-of-my-life mat, and I hate it, so I definitely didn't want to be doing that. Instead, I borrowed from evequilts on instagram (@evequilts77) and her post about different utility quilting stitches.
I did some stars that I came up with on my own, but they're very clumsy. I love the Mennonite Tacks, the ones that look like little swords, and unexpectedly Really enjoyed the crowsfoot stitches (the arrows). The picture is them on a piece of the border fabric, far more densely packed than I'm actually going to sew them, but anyway!
In other news, when I was looking at handsewing seams, I ended up in medieval reenactment corners of the internet, because apparently very few quilting blogs actually do things completely by hand. Which I get, but which means that I'm not really interested. Medieval reenactment was something I was Hugely into about seven years ago - I think it was about the same time I was really into Lord of The Rings?? At that time I was much more into embroidery, though, and I Tried to make a Rohirrim tapestry and lost interest when I realised how much work it was going to be!
Anyway, so now I'm a Little Bit back in my medieval reenactment phase, and I've ended up with a few goals based on that. The ones that are relevent right now are that I want to get really good at sewing seams by hand, which the quilt will help with. I also want to get smoother and more even with decorative stitches, which the utility quilting will help with!
Other things are that I want to get used to sewing with a thimble, because I Have made a hole in my finger before now by sewing bare-handed. I can't get along with metal thimbles for the life of me, so I've bought a couple of types of leather thimble which hopefully will soothe my currently medieval soul and make me more invested in sticking with them. I want to have a couple different types of seam in my repertoire, but I think that would take a while. I also REALLY want to try herringbone stitch again as an insertion stitch. I'd like, if this mood sticks, to make a simple chemise. I already have an idea for how to do insertions in it. My last and much bigger project that I would love to do is actually based on something that my mum made me once for a christmas party. It was always a historically themed party, for a club I was in as a kid, and I think the outfit may have been for a gender-swapped Man In The Iron Mask? It could have been a different one. Anyway, It was a light yellow skirt and matching stays/bodice (absolutely not boned in the slightest, think sort of 16th c costume), and a white chemise under. Lately, for no apparent reason (maybe because of Mary in Ghosts??), I've been really missing this bodice. I only wore it once or twice but I wish I'd kept it, even though there's no way it would fit me some fifteen years later. I'd really like to made a hand-sewn, more historically accurate version. That's definitely for the future, though. I always think ahead too far, but I wanna make a record of my goals so I can look back later and maybe keep on track this time!
But, I have sworn solemnly not to make another quilt until I have made a dent in my pile of three things. One of them is a little mat that needs finished quilting and the binding sewing on. I hate this project now because it looks so ugly and messy, but I don't want to give it up fully because it started me on paper piecing and it deserves better. The other is a quilt top that is one-third pieced. I was so sick of feeling frozen in my projects on Sunday night that on Monday morning I took the day off work (I freelance), drew borders with a fabric pencil and a ruler, cut with scissors, and then sewed them on by hand.
I managed the borders for the front on Monday, and the borders on the back on Tuesday afternoon. I didn't do anything that fancy; I folded my seam allowance over, measured it at intervals to make sure it was about right, clipped it in place, finger pressed it, basted the seam allowance down so it was stable, and then whip-stitched it on. The borders for the back I did the same way, except I pinned rather than basted. I didn't see any difference in result, but I think the basting is more secure if you're not doing it in one job lot like I did.
I have batting to come, and some needles and suchlike, and this morning I got so full of itchiness to quilt that I decided I would cut my binding strips and sew them into a Long Binding Piece. I did do that with a rotary cutter and mat because my parents are out and there was no-one to Judge Me Doing It Wrong...which maybe there should have been, because I did do it wrong. I folded it the wrong way and ended up cutting twice as many as I expected. However! I had also under calculated how much binding I needed, so while I did cut ten strips, I ended up needing six to be safe, so it wasn't too bad. I think I could have got away with my five, but I wanted to make sure I had more than enough. The extra strips are also wide enough to use in paper piecing at the scale I prefer to use, so it's annoying but it won't be wasted.
I sewed the binding strips together on the diagonal, by hand, with a running back-stitch seam (which is a running stitch seam with the odd back-stitch for strength). It was pretty quick and I managed to stick to the line I drew rather than going everywhere, so that's good.
I think Keats thinks I'm pretty bonkers for wanting to attach the binding to the quilt by hand. I do, too, kind of, but I really enjoyed sewing the borders (though I DO need to get up and walk around every so often rather than sit and sew for four hours). I just want to know if I can do it, to be honest.
I've also been practicing my utility quilting for when the batting gets here and I can quilt the quilt. Utility quilting is basically where you use a thick thread and bigger stitches to quilt, rather than the super tiny stitches you use traditionally. You can use different types of stitches, but the most common is also called big stitch quilting, which is just running stitch but big. That's what I was doing on my little bane-of-my-life mat, and I hate it, so I definitely didn't want to be doing that. Instead, I borrowed from evequilts on instagram (@evequilts77) and her post about different utility quilting stitches.
I did some stars that I came up with on my own, but they're very clumsy. I love the Mennonite Tacks, the ones that look like little swords, and unexpectedly Really enjoyed the crowsfoot stitches (the arrows). The picture is them on a piece of the border fabric, far more densely packed than I'm actually going to sew them, but anyway!
In other news, when I was looking at handsewing seams, I ended up in medieval reenactment corners of the internet, because apparently very few quilting blogs actually do things completely by hand. Which I get, but which means that I'm not really interested. Medieval reenactment was something I was Hugely into about seven years ago - I think it was about the same time I was really into Lord of The Rings?? At that time I was much more into embroidery, though, and I Tried to make a Rohirrim tapestry and lost interest when I realised how much work it was going to be!
Anyway, so now I'm a Little Bit back in my medieval reenactment phase, and I've ended up with a few goals based on that. The ones that are relevent right now are that I want to get really good at sewing seams by hand, which the quilt will help with. I also want to get smoother and more even with decorative stitches, which the utility quilting will help with!
Other things are that I want to get used to sewing with a thimble, because I Have made a hole in my finger before now by sewing bare-handed. I can't get along with metal thimbles for the life of me, so I've bought a couple of types of leather thimble which hopefully will soothe my currently medieval soul and make me more invested in sticking with them. I want to have a couple different types of seam in my repertoire, but I think that would take a while. I also REALLY want to try herringbone stitch again as an insertion stitch. I'd like, if this mood sticks, to make a simple chemise. I already have an idea for how to do insertions in it. My last and much bigger project that I would love to do is actually based on something that my mum made me once for a christmas party. It was always a historically themed party, for a club I was in as a kid, and I think the outfit may have been for a gender-swapped Man In The Iron Mask? It could have been a different one. Anyway, It was a light yellow skirt and matching stays/bodice (absolutely not boned in the slightest, think sort of 16th c costume), and a white chemise under. Lately, for no apparent reason (maybe because of Mary in Ghosts??), I've been really missing this bodice. I only wore it once or twice but I wish I'd kept it, even though there's no way it would fit me some fifteen years later. I'd really like to made a hand-sewn, more historically accurate version. That's definitely for the future, though. I always think ahead too far, but I wanna make a record of my goals so I can look back later and maybe keep on track this time!
