The main purpose of this quilt was to use several yards of border fabric my mother had given me. They were both beige fabric, one silkscreened with a navy and gold Greek key design, the other with a leaf design of maroon, navy and gold. I focused on those colors as I dug through my stash. The quilt turned out more red-white-and-blue than I had intended, although it's more striking in the photos than it is in person (which is more rusty and cream).
It took a while to find a pattern I liked. I landed on a braided rainbow quilt that made think of doing the stripes, and found this tutorial that helped with size, yardage and piecing.
When I laid out the quilt, I staggered the silkscreened pieces. But when I sewed it together, I reversed two pieces at one end and joined two Greek keys together. Further down that same strip I had lined up the two different patterns, too. Oops. It didn't jump out enough to warrant ripping it all apart and sewing it back together.One more oops - I ironed all the seams in the same direction. But because I matched up the points on the straight sides, that made for very bulky seams where the braids were joined together. If I do this again, I either need to flip the direction of the sames, or iron them open.
The quilt needs a border (to be twin-sized). I tried out various colors and decided that I liked a dark gold best, possibly with a very narrow inner border of black. I don't have enough of that to piece together now and am ambivalent about ordering more fabric online. We'll see. This project may have to go on hold until I can try out colors in person.
It's ridiculous how much I enjoy these types of projects: where I have some fabric I want to use, then have to figure out how to incorporate it a quilt. Some end results look a lot better than others. There's something about creating with leftovers that gets my brain working, and then I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm then left with the problem of how to use (or gift or sell) the final product.
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wowie! That looks great!!! I love the different tones and that stripe!
ReplyDeleteI like how that turned out, too! You really did figure out the best way to use that original fabric. It definitely should be a keeper!
ReplyDeleteIt never occurred to me to use a border print for a braid. Genius idea - it really dresses up a simple braid. I love seeing how you deep dive into your stash to coordinate with your inspiration piece.
ReplyDeleteA Really beautiful quilt!
ReplyDeleteI think this looks great, and your "oopses" look intentional and well-thought-out, actually. They add interest and I would have thought you matched a couple on purpose for variety and "deliberate randomness." I know what you mean about self-imposed design limits (such as wanting to use up a particular fabric or set of scraps) really stoking the creative fires. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYour new quilt top is SEW awesome!!! I've wanted to make a braided quilt for a long time. Thanks for the link to Kelly's tutorial!
ReplyDeleteAnother fabulous quilt from your clever imagination and that stash of yours. Yes, you must keep it.....one can never have too many quilts, you know. =)
ReplyDeleteIf the country manages to bring various local fairs back again, this one would be an interesting one to enter. I haven't seen another like it, at least not yet. Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing your journeys with us.
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