Bedspread in spotty fabric of pale mauve's, pale blues, creams and whites on a soft turquoise blue background - pure cotton
Made extra big to allow for shrinkage after washing
Also made matching curtains (fully lined of course) - you can see them folded at the top ready to hang.
"Done in a Day " Quilt
For a surprise ............I pieced coordinating fabrics in cotton in random strips - I made it up as I went along, balancing stripes and colours as I patched and sewed.
It is a 'quilt as you go' style being pieced directly onto fleece and then bound with plain blue cotton - I think it made a nice topper for the bed .......what do people think??
Took me a day to do as no backing involved or extra quilting - which can be done later - this was done for speed!
So a really quick quilt - from scraps to quilt in a day!!
I took the spotty fabric into my sewing room (where the stash seems to mulitply) and grabbed a piece of fleece + 6-8 bits fabric - half yards and longer (no fat quarters)
My advice set a time limit and do not dither in fabric choice just rip and sew and don't be too fussy so keep strips simple i.e. no more than 3 pieces fabric!
MATERIALS
Piece of fleece or strip some oddments together - this determines size of quilt
A small piece = baby quilt, bigger single, double etc
I just used what I had in my stash - so no delays in shopping trips or added costs!
My piece of fleece was about 40" by 60" so strips of standard fabric would span the width
Enough oddments fabric - the more variety the better - just be sure they are all a similar weight and content and the colours match or clash well!
i.e. in my case all cotton and to coordinate with the blues n mauves spotty fabric
but approximately a half yard of 6-8 fabrics - if you run short just tear up a strip off something extra for end pieces
Plus enough for binding
Tear these oddments into strips 2"-6" wide - either before you start - I did it as I went along - this means less wastage or leftovers
Make sure some will go across width of quilt - others piece into sections
(for pieced sections have some but not all with a middle and two matching ends, the rest three different fabrics) You can have more pieces if you wish but it will take longer to make - and more decisions of what to use where
Ditto the greater the variety of fabrics the more difficult the decision making process - you want this to be fast and snappy)
Cotton, pins and usual stuff
HOW TO DO IT:
I started in the middle, with the 3" focus spotty strip then cut/tore strips of fabric as I sewed, tear across width of fabric and pieced bits together where necessary. I had some pieces asymmetric others I guessed the central section and worked my way to each end - the slight off-centers of pieced blocks add a certain charm and folksy appeal without it being too rigid.
Its meant to be slightly off-set and out of kilter - so throw the 'rule book' out!!
I did not match each piece perfectly but made sure roughly a similar amount of each colour/pattern fabric was on each side of the middle strip.
Balancing a full strip with a pieced strip
No pieced strip has more than 3 joined strips fabric - this keeps it from being too busy!
I made sure a stripe was not with a stripe so striped, floral, plain fabrics alternated.
Just keep stepping back and double check there isn't too much of one colour/pattern on one side or the other
The speed you make it stops the dithering of choice of which fabric to use - so set yourself a deadline to piece the top in one day!
Just start in the middle of your fleece, make sure your seams are same width across to keep it parallel
Flip and sew - I pressed each strip as I went and double checked they were even width and not going wonky and I worked both sides at the same time adding a strip or two one end then did the other - its easier to keep it colour balanced
Make sure you have a full c 6" strip for the final strip at each end
Square up quilt sides and trim with rotary cutter or scissors (double check widths are the same at each end) and measure - use those lengths for binding
BINDING - tear lengths of fabric into 6" wide strips = to sides and width +2"-3" (measure middle of side/end)
e.g. if quilt 40"x 60" strips should be c 64-66"x 44-46"
Fold strip of fabric in half lengthwise and press
These can be all different fabrics or the same colour
This will make a double thickness binding - which will last longer and be more sturdy for everyday wear and tear and help stabilise the edges as there is no backing fabric as you are using fleece which is stretchy
Align the raw edges of the binding strip with edge of quilt (right side up)
Sew along edge - repeat with each side - do sides then ends
Fold over binding to the back
Trim the ends to c 1" and tuck in
Either hand stitch or machine sew down
You can mitre the corners or do simple fold overs (tuck raw edges in and hand sew ends)
Snip off all loose threads
Press and your done!
NB: You can add additional quilting if you wish or add appliques of flowers / animals whatever on top
I was going to add flowers but not sure if she would like that or not
If you add embellishments it will take another day to finish it off
With the scraps left over I made a matching cushion cover. This was pieced in rows, (row of blocks then a strip), then layered with batting and backing - then intensively quilted - first in the ditch then in random rows some v close together others further apart - still enough left for another cushion or matching baby quilt
Lets hope they like everything!!!!!!!!!!
See what feedback I get if they want another cushion cover or baby quilt to match ...or not :-(
This is for my son Lucas and his partner Karen - for their bedroom in house they recently moved into - and of course they have no curtains to fir the huge windows!
Mother to the rescue ................
