Towards the end of 2014, I decided that I was going to do something very ambitious and get back into sewing by making a quilt from scratch for the first time. I hadn't sewn at all since I was twelve or thirteen and begging my grandmother to help me make a cosplay costume for a convention, and back then I hadn't been responsible for anything beyond stitching the edge of the skirt so I could feel like I was 'helping.'
I devoured quilting blogs, wasted away many an hour browsing online fabric shops, and finally ordered a bunch of charm packs and got to cutting and laying them out for weeks.
This is not that quilt.
Mainly because when I said 'ambitious,' I meant 'I started out queen sized and now I can't figure out how to baste the thing in a tiny NYC apartment.'
(sad trombone noises)
I'm planning to test out the tabletop basting I've read about, but in the mean time, I decided to make a small throw quilt for a friend to practice maneuvering something smaller through the sewing machine.
The cat is very fond of the birds and had to be locked in the bedroom so I could baste it.
This quilt uses Amy Smart's Fast Four-Patch Quilt Tutorial and makes a quick baby quilt or throw. It was easy even for me with my complete lack of experience to put together, and I would definitely recommend it to another beginning quilter or someone who wants to let the fabrics take center stage - the large blocks finish at 8in, so it's a good way to show off larger scale prints.
I used a variety of different bird prints in the large squares and a fat quarter bundle of Cotton + Steel basics in Splash that coordinated nicely for the four-patches. I also pieced a bird and hand-embroidered a label out of scraps for the back. It was quilted with simple straight line quilting, and while I need more practice to avoid puckering, I'm very proud of this as a first effort!
This quilt is now being packed up and shipped off as a surprise to a friend who's had a rough year - hopefully it will cheer him up a bit!
I'm looking forward to continuing to make more quilts, including finishing up my queen-sized monstrosity and making a surprise quilt for my grandparents who are moving into assisted living this spring.
That's a wonderful first quilt - I love the bird on the back! Your friend is so lucky to have you to make him something so cool.
ReplyDeleteThank you! He collects stuffed birds so I'm hoping he'll love this quilt.
DeleteAs far as basting your large quilt top you might try basting with boards. I can't say I have tried this method but with your limited space it might be worth a shot.
ReplyDeletehttp://colormequilty.blogspot.com/2013/04/board-basting.html
Just one place and there are also videos on YouTube.
That board basting looks like it just might work! I may give it a shot, thank you.
DeleteYou go girl! Gorgeous quilt! I would suggest getting an extension table for your sewing machine (if you don't have one, can't see from the photo), it helps with maneuvering large quilts. Also a walking foot (if you don't have a top feeder) and a free motion quilting foot might be worth investing a few dollars in. If you find a sewing machine dealer that sells used machines, you might be able to get FMQ foot for trial or get one super cheap. Not all feet go to all machines, but it's not always necessary to get one the same brand that your machine is (at first I quilted with a supermarket Singer with a Pfaff FMQ foot from the 80's...).FMQ foot can help with the puckering even if you do only straight line quilting. Although I've come to notice, that straight line quilting is way harder that free motion...
ReplyDeleteI would assume that board basting would work for you. Instead of boards you could use anything that you can roll your fabric and batting around, such as cardboard tubes from fabric rolls (I got some for free form my local fabric store). You might have to tape them to the table or floor to prevent them from sliding. Lots and lots of safety pins and painter's- and duct tape. What more can you need;) And for the record, I've only been quilting for less than a year...
I've got a walking foot that I haven't tried out yet! I'm not sure if there would be an extension table that would fit this machine but that's something to look into. Thank you for the tips!
DeleteHi, Eileen! I'm glad you stopped in at my blog, because it's very fun to meet you. This is a fantastic quilt - love the fabrics (wow! They're even the same color scheme as my finish for this month!). And your bird on the back is perfect. Hope you find a good way for you to baste - folks who aren't familiar with NYC buildings might not get it completely - even the board basting technique might be tricky! Do you have a church or office building nearby you can use a space in? Maybe a library? I'd offer my house, but we're way out in Colorado! Oh - maybe there's a quilt guild for your area that has an in on a space to use. I just had a very funny vision of taking it down to Central Park on a pretty day to baste it up! lol ;D I use the bent quilter's safety pins, and if you don't skimp on them, they do a super-fantastic job of keeping away pleats. And the puckers - I haven't had a lot of trouble with those, but they do sneak in now and then. Except that I recently learned about changing the pressure point of the sewing machine's foot. A lot of machines let you adjust that. My Viking does it electronically, but my Singer does it manually with a push-pop button. That make such a huge difference! Maybe your machine lets you change that pressure. I love the quilting Blogosphere so much - I learn an incredible array of valuable information.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for stopping by, Lynette!
DeleteI may actually end up board basting up on my roof with a folding table if I can't maneuver it well enough in my kitchen. NYC apartments really are tricky for this sort of thing! I'm going to try and baste it this weekend so we'll see how it goes.
That's a wonderful quilt - especially considering its your first! Welcome to world of quilting - it's addictive isn't it?
ReplyDeleteFor basting, I recommend basting spray. You stil have to find a flat space equal to half the quilt, but it's so much quicker than pinning! I second the suggestion for finding a local quilt shop or guild that might have a big table you can use.
Thank you Terry! It was so much fun to make and I'm definitely addicted, though I wish they could magically baste themselves once I piece the tops. The down side of being in a big city is that our local quilt shop actually has a single table and it's smaller than the one in my apartment, so I'm out of luck for that.
DeleteI do spend some weekends visiting an aunt a few hours away with a big house, so in the future I think I may finish a couple tops at a time and take them up with me to baste all at once. It won't be great hauling them on the train with me but I imagine it will make basting them less of a pain that way.
Fantastic quilt! I LOVE your labels...I am a label crazy person. Your CAT!!! She is a doppelgänger for my daughter's Izzie! OMG it is scary. I second the QBS tip; quilt basting spray changed my LIFE! I wrote a post about quilting in thirds too, to minimize the bulk of a quilt on a domestic
ReplyDeletehttp://musingsofamenopausalmelon.blogspot.ca/2014/02/aha-moment-tip-9.html
so that might help. That method, found in an old quilt book in the library, also changed my life. I want to add in my welcome to quilting blogland; such a wonderful group you will encounter out here, so enriched my life.
Thank you Sandra - and thank you for all of your help with getting the wrinkles out of my blogger setup as well!
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