Project Update: 25.02.2021
- vafibrearts
- Feb 25, 2021
- 8 min read
Hello Friends and Welcome to Another Project Update!
Since the last update (11.02.2021), I have made progress on all of my projects! I normally work on multiple projects at once, so every project doesn’t usually get equal attention. My project journal is super helpful for keeping me organized and helping me to remember which projects I have supplies for so I don’t get sidetracked by spontaneous bouts of inspiration.
Recent Purchases
Friends, the quilt stores are open again! Since my last update, the provincial government has lifted some of the COVID restrictions in the areas outside of major cities. Previous guidelines allowed for curbside pickup from my local quilt store, but now I can go in to visit the amazing quilters in person! I was first in line and 5 minutes early for their first day of in-store last Friday, and while I was there, no other customers visited, so I felt very safe and had a great shopping experience!
If you have concerns about crossing paths with other shoppers, but still want to do a little in-store shopping (it’s way easier to match fabrics in person than online) most quilting and fabric stores will allow you to book a private session, just give them a call to book a time!
While I was there, I picked up a few things I was missing for projects. I bought backing fabric for my National Quilt Museum BoM project, a spool of white cotton thread and one in pale silvery-grey, and some size 10 quilting needles. The needles are a lot smaller than what I've worked with in the past, but I think I might sew faster with them. I don't know if this is a result of the size or if they're just sharper because they're new.
I also got some really beautiful fabric featuring nuthatches! This is for a quilt I’ll be starting sometime in the future with a variety of bird fabrics that I’ve been collecting over the past few years.
Most of these purchases were things I’ve been needing to progress on some of my current projects, but the real reason I visited the quilt store was to pick up a new book, Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. This is an amazing reference book by quilt historian Barbara Brackman which has recently been released in its third edition. The Encyclopedia is a collection of traditional quilt blocks whose main focus is to document the variety of names given to these blocks throughout publication history. By looking through old adverts, personal letters, and magazine columns, Brackman has complied thousands of unique quilt blocks.
I was looking for a copy of a previous edition of the Encyclopedia a few months ago and wasn't having much luck. Quite unexpectedly, a friend was showing off her shiny new copy of the third edition at the end of January. I learned the reason I was struggling so much in finding a copy was because it was being updated. My friend suggested I ask my local quilt store to order a copy from their supplier. It had never occurred to me that quilt stores can do custom orders, I had always assumed that you could only buy items they usually stock in store.
I bought the Encyclopedia as a resource so I could learn more about the history of traditional quilt blocks, how they got their names, and to compare different blocks with similar names. The beautiful colour illustrations introduced in the third edition are a great source of inspiration for anyone who wants to design a unique quilt. I’m sure I’ll get many years of use from this amazing book!
By the way friends, this post is not sponsored, I just really love this book! If you’d like a copy of Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, third edition by Barbara Brackman, ask you local quilt store to order you a copy. If you can’t justify purchasing your own personal copy, request it at your local library to gain a new resource for yourself, and your whole local quilting community!
Block of the Month
I hadn't made any progress on my February block for the National Quilt Museum project until yesterday afternoon. I love that the February block is so different from the January block and I’m excited to see how all the other blocks will look! That being said, I don't know how cohesive the quilt will look if some blocks are abstract and others are representational. I chose to abstract the beach block but use the same basic shapes and techniques.
So far, I have assembled most of the background. The off-white piece on the bottom hasn't bee attached yet. There is supposed to be a circle in the sky for the sun; I plan to use multiple circles of varying sizes, and I want to layer them with the curved pieces. I might pick out parts of the curved seams later so the circles literally overlap them. There’s still a few days left of February, so there’s still a chance it will be completed before the month is over!
Now that I have my background fabric, I can finally start on to the quilt-as-you-go part of this BoM! I’ve never done quilt-as-you-go before, I’ve heard that it makes domestic machine quilting a lot easier. Rather than dragging a whole queen sized quilt through the machine, you’re quilting one block at a time. The size is much more manageable, you won’t be fighting gravity to keep a whole quilt on your table, and you’re way less likely to catch another part of your quilt.
My plan with my backing fabric is to use 4 different prints. If this round of the National Quilt Museum BoM is the same as previous rounds, there will be 12 blocks total, so I will back 3 block with each of my 4 fabrics. I think the variety of fabrics will create a unique and visually interesting backing.
I intended to buy 0.3m of each of the background fabrics (except for the blue which I already had), but the gold fabric only had 0.9m left on the bolt, and for finishing it I could get 15% off. In my experience, it’s pretty common to get a discount on the fabric if you finish the bolt. I’m planning to use the extra gold for sashing or setting once we get to the end of this BoM. And even if I don’t use it all, it’s a really great neutral that I can use in future projects.
Original Designs
Since Changing Pace is a hand sewing project, I normally only sit down with it for a few hours throughout the week, so progress is slow, but last weekend I got to work on it for almost an entire day! Last Sunday afternoon was spent watching movies with my partner and sewing together rows of blocks.
I’m experimenting with the assembly for this quilt top. Most patterns I’ve seen suggest strip piecing; sew all the blocks together into rows, then sew the rows together to make the quilt top. There’s nothing wrong with this method, it’s great for machine sewing and makes keeping track of block placement super easy, I just wanted to try something new.
I’ve been calling my method the log cabin method. If you’ve ever made a log cabin, you’ll know that the block assembly starts with a central square and adds a row to each side going around either clockwise or counter clockwise, layering strips until the block has reached its full size. That’s how I’ve chosen to piece together my quilt top. I started with the block in the centre, then added one beside it, then a row below, then a row beside, then a row above, and on and on until my quilt is eventually finished.
I've never heard of a quilt top being pieced this way, and I don't know what inspired me to try it. But I am having a lot of fun with it! Since last update, I've finished sewing the bottom row, added a column on the right side, and started sewing the next row across the top.
The black background fabric is too dark for pencil lines to show up, so I used thread marking instead. You can see the little white stitches in the picture, I'll take them out later. I am really enjoying hand sewing and I’m looking forward to a lot more hand-sewn projects in the future!
Mending
I’m sure you all remember the fox pajamas from the last update. This ongoing mending project is a favourite pair of pajama pants the have been worn so much the fabric tore along the side of the crotch seam. Since the tear was a little on the large side, I opted to completely disassemble the pants and patchwork them back together using some of leftover fabric from when they were originally made.
In my last update, I had just finished cutting the pieces. Since then, I have begun assembling them into the pieces needed for the pattern. Currently, I have one leg all together in one piece, while the second leg is still in four pieces. This will go together quickly once I get down to work on it.
All of my inside seams are sewn, then finish using the serger. My serger friend is happy to finally be out of storage, I haven’t used it for over a year at this point. After serging, I pressed the seams to one side and top stitched the seam to keep it in place. I’m hoping this will help to add some strength around the seams.
On the first leg shape, I am a little concerned with the placement of the side seam. You can't quite see in the picture, but the side seam does not extend down the full length of the leg, it has been added in as a result of the way the pieced have been patchworked together. When looking at it flat, it looks like the side seam might end up a little more towards the back of the body, so the pocket will sit on the side of the bum rather than towards the hip. I’m going to leave this as is for now and see how everything looks when I get around to the fitting. Sometimes flat pieces are deceptive, so it could be totally fine.
The pockets themselves are completely assembled and ready to go. If you’re interested in learning the method I will be using to install these pockets, check out Morgan Donner’s video on sewing pockets into dresses. The link starts with drafting the pocket pattern, shows how to sew the pocket together, then how to attach it into the side seam. She uses several different methods throughout the video, I will be using the first one. I have chosen to finish the edge of my pocket using a french seam, this will make it really strong and keeps all the raw edges completely contained so there is no danger of them fraying. I could have used the serger, but pockets usually like a little extra reinforcement.
I made a few estimates about my progress in the last updates. Some projects haven’t gotten as far as I’d hoped, while others have gone beyond what I expected! I’m really pleased with what I’ve gotten done and I’m looking forward to continuing to work on these projects.
Please let me know what projects you’ve been working on in the comments below. Be it quilting, sewing, knitting, or needlework, whatever kind of projects you make, I’d love to hear about them! To keep up with my projects between updates, follow me on Instagram @vafibrearts or join my Facebook group, VA Fibre Arts!
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