Project Update: 25.03.2021

Hello Friends and Hello Spring!

The recent return of warmer weather, birds, and budding plants has brought me so much happiness. I'm always much more motivated and inspired to create during the warmer parts of the year, so I'm looking forward to a lot of new ideas and projects!

Of course, the warm weather might encourage me to get out of the sewing room more and take me away from my projects instead. Maybe I'll have to take some of my hand sewing outside so I can enjoy both the warm weather and my projects.

Only the future knows what will happen, so for now Friends, let's get on with the project update!

Recent Acquisitions

Last weekend, I was gifted an exciting new tool, a plastic quilting frame! My partner's parents have had this in their basement since his Nana became unable to quilt. They had forgotten it was there and were reminded when I mentioned my desire to hand quilt Changing Pace. They offered me the frame and were really excited that it will get the chance to finally be used again!

I tried setting it up earlier this week, and it was super fast and easy to put together. Unfortunately, the only room I had enough space to lay everything out hasn't been renovated yet, so please excuse the gross floor. The quilting frame is super lightweight; I could easily pick it up and move it around, so in hindsight, I guess I could have brought it to a nicer room.

The quilt frame is made of tubes or pipes which that slide into corner pieces to hold everything together. There are also some half tubes that clip over the framework to hold the quilt in place while you're working with it. It also has adjustable legs so the height can be changed to suit different users, or to be used with different chairs. This makes it fairly versatile and the simple construction allows it to travel relatively easily.

I've never tried hand quilting before, so I don't have any preferences regarding tools or technique. I'm sure there will be a learning curve while I get used to using it, but for now, I think this small plastic frame will be perfect for me!

For any of you who are interested in trying new quilting tools and equipment, I would encourage you to talk about your interest in quilting with as many friends and family members as you can. Someone you least expect could have tools like this stored in their home that they would be willing to lend, sell, or gift to you if they know you'll use them well.

Block of the Month

On the second weekend of March, I got together with my Mother to work on the Wetlands BoM project. This is being run through my quilt guild and instructions are available free on the guild website.

I really love working on this project with my Mother. Even though we're both making our own version of this pattern, we are able to help each other with creative decision making and to consult each other if we're confused about block construction. It's a really great social activity, even though we may not be talking the whole time. I'm looking forward to a time when I'll be able to meet with other quilters in person again too!

But back to my blocks. For this project, two blocks are made every month, for March, these were the Anvil and the Heron. The anvil is a traditional pieced block that uses squares and half square triangles. It was very easy to put together and I would definitely recommend it for beginners.

The heron is an applique block, created using fusible, raw edge applique. The applique fabric is essentially glued to the background fabric using a heat-activated fusible net, then the edges are stabilized with stitching. This is the first time I've made a quilt using fusible applique, so I don't know how much longevity this technique has. I am a little worried that some of the smaller applique pieces, like the ripples, won't last long, so I opted to secure the edges of my applique using a hand sewn buttonhole stitch.

I didn't make this decision based on any particular evidence or recommendation. I just thought I would have better control over stitch placement using hand sewing, and that it would make my applique look neater. My Mother opted to use the hand-turn function on her sewing machine to do this, which is another great option. It allows you to benefit from the stitch regulation built into the machine, and gives you a lot of control by slowing down the operating speed.

I'm really loving the Wetlands BoM project! I've been able to make it totally my own through colour choice and some unique background design, and it's given me the opportunity to try some new techniques. If you have an interest in trying fusible applique, I would definitely recommend taking a look at the Wetlands BoM pattern.

The second BoM project I'm working on is run through the National quilt Museum in Kentucky. This is another free program and the instructions can be accessed through their website.

The March block, Firework, was designed by Christina Cameli. It uses templates to create a detailed, radial pattern, and can create a variety of effects depending on colour placement. This is the first time I've used a cutting template, and I think it was very helpful for keeping my seam placement accurate.

While the construction of the block is fairly simple, it does require you to pay a lot of attention to placement. I needed to rip out a few seams where my placement was slightly off, even though I added registration marks in the seam allowance.

This block also uses a lot of bias cut pieces, meaning the pieces are cut across the weave of the fabric and are prone to stretching and warping. This encourages a certain amount of bubbling in the centre of the block. I avoided warping by going slowly, and pinning my seams before sewing to stabilize them in a relaxed, non-stretched position.

If you check out the instructions, you might notice that my colour placement is fairly similar to that of the sample block. I really liked the effect of the light coloured rays and I think they created a really beautiful contrast with both my background colours, and the focus circle in the centre. The colour placement reminds me of a mini earth with the blue sky surrounding it, and the addition of the rays adds an interesting surreal effect which I really love!

I still haven't started the quilting process for this BoM. I was experimenting with free motion quilting a few weeks ago and I think this project is a great opportunity to try free motion on a quilt. Each designer offers a suggestion for how to quilt their block, and the Firework block happens to encourage the use of free motion!

Friends, I am so happy with the blocks I've made this month and I'm really looking forward to what I'll be making in April! If you'd like to see some of the other blocks made for each of these BoM programs, check out my past project updates; 11.02.2021, 25.02.2021, and 11.03.2021.

Original Designs

Since the last update, I managed to add another full row to Changing Pace! You can see the all white row from the last update on the left side, and the new row across the bottom. This project has grown so much since starting that I no longer have enough floor space to layout the quilt to photograph it. Luckily, I can bring it out to the clothesline and let it enjoy the spring sunshine!

I'm still really enjoying the process of hand sewing and now that I've got that quilt frame, I'm even more excited to finish this project and try hand quilting it!

During this time, I was also working on my rail fence heart block. This pattern was released earlier this week as the concluding part of a series of posts on the rail fence block. I used a variety of red and pink scraps for the rail fence pattern and some white scraps for the background of the 4" block variation. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any remnants that were large enough to use for the background of my 12" block variation. Instead, I used muslin.

Normally, I would use muslin for mock ups or test versions of garments to check the fit of a new pattern. I have quite a bit of it in my stash and it's a nice neutral, off white colour, so it worked well with the red. I wouldn't normally use muslin in quilts since it's thicker than quilting cotton and a little bit course, but I don't mind using it occasionally.

Even though I struggled a little while designing the block pattern, I'm really happy with how it turned out in the end. If you like this block too, please visit my rail fence heart post to see the instructions!

Other Quilts

If you've seen any of my early posts, you might already know that I have a handful of UFOs waiting to be quilted. The oldest of these is a pattern called Simply Woven. It was designed by Jess Kelly in 2012, and the pattern instructions are available free through the Moda Cutting Table blog. This quilt was originally started by my Grandma at a workshop around the time the pattern was released. After the workshop ended, she lost interest in the pattern and set it aside. A few years later, my partner was joking that I hadn't started making a quilt for him, and Grandma immediately thought of the unfinished Simply Woven quilt and gave it to me to finish for him.

For the quilt, Grandma chose to use a really beautiful fabric collection called Oakwood by Helen Knott, and a solid black background. Last fall, I was somehow able to find some of that collection still available at a local quilt shop and bought a lot of it to use as my backing. I also bought batting, hoping I would quilt Simply Woven over the winter. Clearly Friends, that did not happen.

This week, I finally pieced together the backing and I'm getting ready to quilt it! I have never used a pieced backing before, and I really wanted to embrace the piecing by incorporating some of the leftover blocks from the quilt top. I am really happy with how the backing looks at this point, and the way it both reflects and contrasts the pattern on the quilt top!

Mending

In my last update, I worked on some standard household mending; replacing buttons, closing torn seams, and patching holes. The past few weeks, I've moved back to the fox pajamas.

Right this moment, I'm really close to being finished. The last time I shared this project, I had one leg pieced together, my pockets were assembled, and the pieces of my second leg had started being assembled.

Since then, I have pieced the second leg following the same method as the first one. You can see that process in my project update from the end of February.

The next step was to sew the two legs together. This can be done two ways; method 1 is to sew together the inseam of each leg individually, then to put one leg inside the other and sew around the crotch seam. Method 2 is to lay the two leg pieces flat on each other and sew them together on the two crotch seams, then sew the across the full length of the inseam of the two legs. Usually, I use the first method, but I decided to change it up and use method 2.

To make the waistband, I used the elastic from the original pajamas. Since it was already sewn to the right size, I didn't want to rip out the stitching securing the two ends of the elastic. I double folded the waistband so the raw edge would be protected. I tucked the elastic inside and sewed around the full waistband. This can be tricky because you want to make sure you don't catch the elastic, if you sew through the elastic at any point, the waistband won't stretch properly and the pajamas might not fit.

I managed to not catch the elastic by going slowly and stopping frequently to adjust the placement of the elastic.

At this point, the pajama pants are wearable and I decided it would be a good time for a fitting. I needed to check the length of the legs so I could hem the pants to the right length. The main part of the leg, including the hem, was salvaged from the original pants, and the hem fell around the same place as on the original. Because there was already some light wear in that area, I chose to raise the hem a little to hide that. The off-coloured line in the picture is the fold mark from the original hem.

The final step is to add the pockets. Currently, just one of the two pockets has been added. I used a similar method to the first displayed in this video by Morgan Donner. I chose to sew mine in by hand, so it takes a little extra time, but since I enjoy hand sewing, I don't mind. I'm planning to add the second pocket in the next few days so these pajamas can be returned to their owner.

I'll let you know in my next update if I actually succeed in that goal.

Friends, I've managed to get so much done in the past few weeks! Looking back at it all, I feel so accomplished and really proud of all the work I've done! If any of you are looking for a new quilting project to get started on, I would recommend any of the patterns I've linked above.

If you already have something in progress, I would live to see it! Feel free to share your projects in the comments below or send me a message through my contact page or on social media. If you want to see what I'm working on between updates, follow me on Instagram @vafibrearts or join my Facebook group.

One final announcement; for the entire month of April, I will be changing the posting schedule of my project updates. For this experiment, I will be posting every Thursday, starting 01 April to see how this affects the length and content of my project updates. At the end of April, I will let you know if I will be continuing with weekly posts, or returning to the original schedule of every second week. During this time, please let me know which of the two schedules you prefer, I would love your opinions!