Project Update: 11.02.2021

Hello Friends and Welcome to my First Project Update!

In my project updates, I'll be sharing pictures of the progress of the projects I'm working on and explain the reasons I made certain design decisions. The projects I share will include original patterns, challenges, things I'm making just for fun, and even mending. If there's anything you'd like to know about any of my projects, or anything you want me to add to future project updates, please let me know in the comments below or visit my contact page to send me an email!

Before I start into this week's project update, I would like to mention that I haven't made any progress on the UFOs mentioned in my post last week, but I haven't forgotten them!

Block of the Month

I am currently participating in two Block of the Month (BoM) programs. As I mentioned last week, I like to personalize my BoM quilts by making changes to the number of blocks, shape and size of the finished quilt, and altering the borders. If you check out the source material (links below) you’ll be able to see where my projects differ from the instructions.

Wetlands is designed by Mary Dodd and Linda Ward for use by my Guild. It was announced in September 2020 and will run until June 2021. You can find the instructions here if you’re interested in trying this pattern for yourself. A new block is posted after the Guild meeting on the first Thursday of each new month. This project is fairly beginner friendly, using straight line piecing and fusible applique.

This is the first time I’ve tried fusible applique. It works by applying a sheet of heat-activated glue to the back of a piece of fabric, placing them glue-side-down on a background, and ironing the whole thing together to set it. Fusible applique is definitely easier and probably a little faster than needle-turn applique, but aesthetically, I prefer the finished look of needle-turn applique. Nonetheless, I’m thrilled with the way my blocks are turning out so far! I did make a few changes to the applique designs; I drew all of mine by hand rather than using the printable templates supplied, this way I could make each animal and plant exactly to my own preferences.

Here are my most recent blocks, February, January, and December:

I wanted to try something new by making my quilt using only solid fabrics. Unfortunately, my local quilt store didn’t have solids in every colour I was looking at the time, so I was happy to settle for some very subtle tone-on-tone fabrics instead. I added some extra challenge and visual interest to my BoM project by piecing my background. I used curved piecing and in a variety of colours to produce the illusion of a sunrise sky reflected in water. The colours were inspired by the sunrise outside my home.

I also challenged my Mother to participate in this BoM with me. We get together the weekend following the release of the instructions every month and make our blocks together.

The other BoM I’m participating in right now is hosted by the National Quilt Museum in Kentucky. Their program is available free online to anyone who wants to participate! You can find their website here or join the National Quilt Museum Block of the Month Club Facebook group. The current round of their program started in January 2021 with new instructions being posted on the first of each month.

This BoM is interesting because each block is designed by a different featured artist at the museum, so creating a cohesive quilt is up to the ingenuity of the quilter. Each block has its own name, while the pattern as a whole is untitled. The blocks so far are very different from each other, both have featured curved piecing, and I don't know how the future blocks will look until they're released. So far, it has been an interesting project, I would recommend it to an adventurous beginner or someone with a little more experience.

I planned my colours for this quilt based on a piece of floral fabric from my scrap box. I happened to have a few blues and greens that matched the accents in it very nicely, and I will be using beige, ivory, and white to match the flowers and the background. While most of the fabrics I’ll be using are from my scraps, I will need to buy some additional fabric for the backing.

Here is my January block, called Segmented Circle, and some additional fabrics I plan to include in my quilt:

I will have the February block ready for next update, so stay tuned!

Original Designs

Changing Pace is a pattern I designed this past spring. It is a modern quilt designed on the premise of making a large quilt using a single charm pack. A charm pack is a bundle of coordinating fabric cut into 5" squares. I like to make large, bed sized quilts, but most patterns designed for charm packs require 3 or 4 for those sizes.

I have collected a few single charm packs which are now a few years old, it would be difficult to find matching fabric as I'm sure the original lines are probably out of print by now. I could easily use them to make a lap sized quilt, but friends, I like to make life difficult for myself, so I challenged myself to design a pattern.

This is the first test of the pattern. I started it in August and because I appreciate irony, I opted to hand sew my first modern-inspired quilt pattern. The bottom row is currently only pinned on, so it didn’t want to sit flat for the picture. Once that row has been sewn properly, it will be around 40” (1m) square. I still have quite a ways to go before I get to the full 72” (1.8m) square.

I’ve been sewing with a running back stitch, about 5 running stitches to 1 back stitch. This project is actually the reason I bought a thimble, and my stitching has improved a lot by using it. Here are some pictures of my seam lines from the inside, 1" ruler for scale:

Since I’m sewing this by hand, my progress will be fairly slow, so you probably won't see this again for a little while. If it's been missing too long, feel free to request that Changing Pace make an appearance in a future project update.

Mending

Most people are way more excited to share their big projects than small jobs like mending, but I think it’s really important to be proud of all the work you do regardless of how unimpressive it may be. Some mending is quick and easy to fix, but others can require a lot of thought and creative problem solving. You can learn a lot from mending old projects and even store-bought items.

Currently, my mending pile mostly consists of work pants that need patches. I am ignoring those for now, I will get to them eventually and I happen to know that their owner has a lot of other pants to wear.

I do try to work on at least one mending project every week, even if it doesn’t get completely finished. The current mending project is a pair of pajama pants, but not just any pajama pants, they are the owner’s favourite pair. They’ve been worn so often that they ripped along the seat, right beside the seam. Friends, that’s what love looks like:

And that's not the only part that looks this way. Normally in a case like this, we would go fabric shopping and make new pajamas, but as I mentioned, these are favourites, so we’ll try to save them this time. Fortunately I had about a third of a metre left over from when I made them.

I took apart the pants, and before I started cutting into them, traced the pattern onto paper. This way I’ll have it available when the time does come to make a new pair. This is a great way to make your own patterns at home! If you have a garment that fits you really well, but you don't love the print or it has worn out, take out all the seams, press everything, and trace the pieces onto card stock or paper. There are tonnes of useful videos and articles that can show you how to do this! But back to my mending.

The fabric in the leg of the pants is still good enough to reuse, and is the biggest part, so we will be keeping the original leg. The crotch and bum areas are the problems so I’ve cut new pieces for them which I will need to patch together. The waistband was also no faring so well, so I cut a new piece for that too. The original pants were cut without an outer leg seam, so they didn’t have any pockets, but since I have to patchwork the pants anyway, we’ll be adding a partial side seam to include pockets.

I’ve only gotten so far as cutting, maybe by my next update they’ll be finished and back in use!

That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you try any of the patterns I’ve linked, make progress on your mending, or are really proud of another project you’ve been working on, let me know in the comments below!

If you’d like to keep up with my projects between updates, follow me on social media! I post progress photos on Instagram @vafibrearts and in my Facebook group, VA Fibre Arts. Feel free to tag me and let me know if you have any questions, comments or advice!

Happy Sewing,

VA