@Willowisp0801 you did such a nice job on your card trick quilt. The black background is really elegant looking, and your sewing shows a very talented hand! That card trick pattern has a nice modern look to it, and the green/blue/black is a great combination, very outstanding! I know what you mean about modern fabric being more expensive and thinner. I think so too. I don't want to sew a quilt and have it wear out in six months, and I don't want to pay a lot unless it's something extra special. One reason I like upcycling men's cotton shirts for quilting is they can be better quality fabric, but I have made mistakes that way. Some have interesting textures that are not found in quilting fabric. I have even used a little cotton corduroy here and there. I do a lot of looking and inspecting, I don't want any wear and tear in the fabric. The down side is, the colors and patterns are very limited, and certainly not for everyone. Also, they all tend to be in-between color intensity, which makes it harder to find contrasts of very light color / very saturated color. Sometimes the thrift stores here have shirts that were overstock, never worn, so that's like using new fabrics. Sometimes I inspect a shirt for quite a while, trying to decide if the fabric is right. Some are too heavy or too thin. Lately I've been checking the local thrift stores to find bedsheets for quilt backing. Sometimes they have un-used sheets that are very good quality but without a fitted sheet, or pillow case, or some other issue. It's catch as catch can, and I do a lot of inspecting and seeking labels so I know they are 100% cotton. The price is a fraction of what fabric store fabric costs. Thanks for the info about flannel. I found a thick, unused flannel sheet that will be the backing for my next quilt. Do you starch yours before sewing? Do you use spray basting? I don't - the chemical smell is too strong, and I can never get it right, so I baste with safety pins. It can take me a year to collect the fabrics I like for a quilt. I think my next will be a very simple, brick-work pattern that I have used before, for a daily use quilt. Nothing fancy, but I like it. I have everything I need, and have started starching the fabric. I hear you about using older sewing machines. My main machine is an old Kenmore, probably from the 80's. I have an older Morse from the late 50's or early 60's that I really enjoy, but the stitches don't seem as tight. Hang in there with your cancer treatment. I've been on mine more than ten years now.
Daniel, i do not starch my fabric. I taught myself how to make quilts, the first one was for my son before he was born. Back then you didn't know ahead of time what you were getting, so it was a lot of yellow and green. I didn't know you were supposed to starch it. I also pin mine. Last year I saw some curved/bent safety pins for quilting. They're very easy to put through the fabric. Are those the ones you use? I noticed one of your quilts looked like a split rail pattern. I did one years ago that had that pattern but every other block had a crazy quilt heart that I hand sewed on. It was a Christmas gift for a close friend. I have my oldest son's graduation quilt here. I was visiting him one time and he had a water bed. I guess it slipped under the mattress and the heater scorched some of it. He's lucky it didn't start a fire. Apparently he got rid of the water bed shortly after....hmm wonder why. So I took it to repair it and then the whole cancer thing started, so I still have it. I was going to take a picture but it's been packed and needs to be ironed. His is cabin in the woods pattern. I did a Star of Bethlehem quilt for my next son, in jewel tones with black around the star and it really brought out the colors. There's a really cool pattern (I think it is) called Seattle Streets. I think that might be what I teach the kids how to do this school year. They need to used math for it. There's 3 of us in adolescents so last year I taught them how to make a tote bag. We talked about each of them making a square for a quilt then auctioning it off. We have to make sure all the sewing machines are in good working order, though. Last year was the first year we did sewing and all the machines we were donated. Unfortunately 2020 was our first year with adolescents and we didn't really have a chance to get things that we should have gotten. I was upper elementary then. Yep, I've been cancer free for over ten years now, I'm very aware of all the cancer prevention, I wear sunscreen all the time, even overcast days. I go get my cancer checks every year. I have my granddaughter living with me so I need to do all I can to make sure I'm here until she's an adult. Well, now that I've written a novel I just realized it's almost midnight. Good luck with your next quilt! Hopefully there's no spelling errors because I'm not going to re-read.
Daniel, thank you for your kind words. Here is one of the squares I was talking about in one of the posts. This is back when M&M fabric was everywhere. And it is thicker. I took a package of m&MS in and matched the colors. I know for this one I wanted it to look like a handful of candy was just dropped which is why some have an "m" and others do not. And the "m"s will be all different directions. These are snowball pattern.
Wow! I'm further then I thought. I have two rows together! My table is small so it's kind of wrinkled.
@Willowisp0801 that will be a really nice quilt! I started my next one. It will be a quick quilt for everyday use, so not fancy. I'm using a brickwork pattern, and cotton shirts in shades of blue. Oh - I do use the bent safety pins for basting.
Thanks Daniel! The bent ones are so much easier then the straight ones I used to use. Brick pattern... Is that a split rail variation? Sounds like yours will be very nice, too. Too bad we don't live closer we could look for things in our areas for each other, then meet halfway a few times a year. I used to do that with a friend of mine. She'd look for teaching stuff for me (I was just starting out) and I'd look for whatever she wanted. Last time I lived in Washington State I lived in Tacoma, but I was born and raised across the Narrows Bridge. Do you ever think of using blankets as batting? I have a couple that have a wool blanket and quite a few that have those old thick cotton blanket/sheets. My grandma used them in the summer. They're heavier then a flannel sheet but lighter then a blanket.
Despite having a few quilt projects barely started, I started another. I want it to be a quick one, ready before cold sets in. I want something warmer, so it will have a flannel backing. That is a first for me. I also want it to be simple, because it will be for every day use, and will need washing more often. So I don't want to do intricate sewing. That's why I'm doing the brick pattern Here are the blocks so far. I need 16 each of 10" x 5" blocks for each of the eight patterns, and four (I think) of 5" x 5" blocks. These are 100% cotton, thrift store shirts, with a heavy feel to them. I may add another, if I lay them out and think it needs something else. The monstera pattern is actually the "wrong side" of the fabric. I think it looks better than the "right side". I might do that with the bamboo pattern too, if I decide it's too many darks. The brick pattern just has the blocks arranged like a brick wall. It's an old theme - at least back to mid 1800s. @Willowisp0801 I'd be open to using a woven cotton blanket as batting, if I had one LOL. Is there a shrinkage issue, using wool in a cotton faced quilt?
I don't have a problem, but I don't machine dry any of my quilts and they only get washed in cold water. And never in an agitating washer. Well maybe I'll reword hardly ever in an agitating washer. I had a crazy quilt I got for $5 at a second hand store. It was one of those p!aces they're all over in Washington, where I lived and different people have a small area to sell their stuff. This quilt was on the floor back in the corner of one area. I didn't really even want to touch it but my younger son was with me. He grabbed it and spread it out. And I fell in love with it. So we (meaning he) carried it to the front and I explained where we found it and that it had no price. The woman said $5. So I took it, and washed it in the washer that I had, at the time. My thinking was if it falls apart I only wasted $5. It didn't fall apart and a few of the sections needed repaired and after repairing it, it turned out nice. I also put a cotton flannel sheet on the back because it was in sorry shape. It's very heavy! There is this one spot that has really weird fabric so I showed a friend who specialized in old fabric and she said it could be horse hair fabric and the whole quilt could be from the 1800s. I've had it for maybe 25 years. When i got it out to take the picture I noticed another small worn place. We don't use it much anymore because it's so heavy. I had one son that loves heavy blankets in the winter and he loved it. I look forward to seeing your newest creation!
Willow that's a nice heritage, having that antique quilt! Your approach to washing guilts sounds right to me. I use cold water, detergent sheets and air dry. No softeners. If it's a new quilt made from new fabric, I wash warm the first time and dry warm, to give a crinkled texture. Today I cut more blocks for the brick-work quilt. I was thinking I might arrange then differently from the original plan. I don't know yet.
I changed my mind about the brickwork quilt. All of the rectangles are already cut out, but I have a different idea. The original idea was something like this quilt, which I made several years ago. I called that my "Seven Shirt Quilt", because it was made from seven shirts (plus one more for the binding). This is the new layout. It's eight shirts instead of seven. I will need to piece together two blocks from extra pieces, but I don't think that will show. Also the photo layout is slightly wrong in one row, which doesn't matter because I'll catch that when I'm sewing it. I can sew those two pieced pieces tomorrow, then start sewing together the entire quilt top
All of the squares are completed, for the tropical shirt quilt. As expected, I had to trim a small amount from the ends (1/2 inch) in order to have perfect squares (9 1/2 inches on each side). That was good. I evened up any irregularities in the process. I'm using my trusty pre-digital era Kenmore sewing machine, It's a pleasure, sewing with that machine. It's like a good friend. I printed out a copy of the layout photo, as a guide for assembly.
It’s that poetic relationship with your trusty Kenmore that is the reason for your successes with quilting I guess. —Well done, you two!
