I decided to finish my Trip Around The World first, though, seeing how it was started before the sampler. So yesterday I went to the quilt shop and purchased enough material for the final border, and 3 yards of backing material which comes in 108" width. The quilt, remember, fits a queen sized bed.
The third and final border went on pretty well. It gets to be quite a large piece of fabric to maneuver: I had to sit on the sofa with quilt in my lap to pin on the borders, and then lots of tossing and twisting--and perhaps a bit of muttering--to get the fabric fed through the machine straight. Heehee.
The muttering was nothing! After the top was finished I plowed ahead and laid out the padding, set the backing upon it right-side-up, followed by the top right-side-down. By some grace, I managed to get it all pinned up and trimmed, and ready to sew the final outside seam. Maneuvering was out the window at this point, it was now a wrestling match between me, the machine, and the three layers of quilt. Good golly Moses! I came out alive, the machine is still functional, and the quilt is sewn together without too many pleats. Mind you, the recipe doesn't call for any pleats. I have a few, and as they say: It's a design feature. It's going to take some practice.
Not bad all around. My first big quilt after all.
For the backing I chose a complimentary dark green pattern, and decided on wool batting for the filler. It's 100% Merino wool. Mmm, warm.
What's left is hand sewing of the opening from which I turned the layers right-side out, and quilting of some sort. It has been my intention to tie it together at regularly spaced intervals the way it was done years and years ago. But now I'm having second thoughts; I might just go ahead and quilt it in a very simple pattern of squares and outlines for the borders. Not sure yet.
It fits!!
That is so gorgeous, Bernard. But wait! Right side out? You're not using binding strips on the edge? (I've only made two small quilts, and they were sandwiched right sides out, and then a binding sewn to the edge and folded over and hand sewn down.)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michele! :) For this quilt, which look harkens a little back in time (I think), I opted for a simple construction: a pillow case type of thing, wherein the right sides face each other with the batting underneath, with a 2-3' opening left unsewn. The whole is then turned outside out and the opening hand stitched (I'll use invisible ladder stitch). Very easy, suits the look of this quilt IMO, and works! :) When I get to the sampler, I'll attempt my first ever binding tape. Eeeek. ;)
DeleteI made a tied quilt with exactly that construction before I went to college. I'm still using it, decades later.
DeleteFor my later forays into pieced quilt tops, my friend Carole helped me with the binding tape. I still don't know how to do it!