Completed Project – Quilt
Ever since I made my first quilt for my daughter when she was three months old, I’ve been saving up scraps of fabric in co-ordinating colours. My first quilt was made from scraps cut out of three tops I no longer wanted, an old shirt of my father-in-law’s which he no longer wore. I had never made a quilt before or been shown how to do it, I just read an article in Sew Hip about chain piecing and decided to give it a go. It turned out reasonably well for a first attempt, and has been well used and well loved!
My first ever quilt – May 2010
About a year ago, I had another go at very small-scale quilting with a range of scraps I had been saving up. I made some place mats this time, and because they were smaller I opted for more concentrated quilting. They turned out ok for everyday family use, but using my regular presser foot instead of a quilting foot meant that sometimes the fabric would get dragged along and end up rippling. At a distance, however, who can tell?!
Quilted place mats – Nov 2011
This summer, I finally had enough co-ordinating scraps to have another go at quilting, and this time on a bigger scale:
Scraps of fabric collected from various projects over about three years
The scraps were taken from:
- an unwanted shirt of dear friend Monte Pindik – no picture I’m afraid!
- the leftover Kitty Yoshida Brooklyn Heights fabric from a Simplicity 2591 dress:
- the leftover Michael Miller Marcia fabric from another Simplicity 2591 dress:
- the leftover Amy Butler fabric from a pegbag:
- the leftover fabric from a New Look 6789 dress:
the leftover fabric from the vintage dress I used to make Butterick See and Sew B4956:
- …and some purpose bought green gingham fabric (NB. I only bought 30cm which cost 75p. Good old Boyes’s!)
I pieced the scraps together easily. It was time consuming and repetitive but very simple and pretty satisfying. I then made my ‘quilt sandwich’ and bound the edges of the quilt – again, very easy to do once basted into place. It was all going so well! Expert quilters among you will have already spotted my first mistake – binding the edges before quilting!
It was only when I came to do the actual quilting that this project got tricky. I was under the false impression that using my quilting foot would mean it would be super easy, but man; those things are hard to get used to! Both the size of the quilt and its thickness meant that the quilt itself was also really tricky to handle and manoeuvre. I swore a lot whilst quilting this, and thanked my lucky stars I had only opted for straight line quilting. I resolved never to quilt again, and at the time I really meant it, but now a few months later I admit I probably will still make another at some point in the future.
For now, this quilt is ready and waiting for my daughter’s new room to be decorated, but here is a sneaky preview of it in action, and you’ll notice some co-ordinated bunting I made as well, to put up in her new bedroom:
Thread Carefully 
Oh my god, it’s gorgeous! I would love to make a scrap quilt like this one day!
Thank you! Just save all your scraps! 🙂
Great job Tabatha! I love your quilts and the fact that you can say where your scraps came from. True patchwork is from recycled scraps that hold memories, not going out and spending a fortune on new fabric, cutting it up into small pieces and sewing it back together again, though that satisfies our need to buy and fondle more material! As a “seasoned” quilter, I urge you to continue as along the way you’ll pick up those little tips that make things easier and you’ll become addicted. There are tons of instructional youtube videos and classes online now. Wait until you try free motion quiting which makes the process so much easier! Your first quilts will always be treasures, well worn and loved.
Thanks Anne. I got so frustrated with the quilting itself, but I think you are right, I should just keep trying! To be honest I can’t imagine making anything bigger until I’ve improved my techniques – it’s so difficult to handle. I think next time I will definitely check out a few tutorials first. For now though, I’m pretty confident that my daughter won’t be inspecting her quilts too closely! 🙂
Check out the “quilt as you sew” method as you work on small sized blocks and then sew them together with a binding so that there’s only ever a quarter inch seam under your machine. Difficult to explain, you’ll need to see a demo but I’ve just finished a very large quilt that way and it’s much easier to handle.
That sounds like an excellent tip! Thank you so much. I would like to sew a quilt for the new baby at some point so I will definitely look that up!
Well, it’s lovely! I love that all your fabric came from previous projects. I’ve been saving bits and pieces for just the same thing.
Ooh, good plan! It definitely makes it a lot more personal and interesting than just buying a pack of pre cut squares!