Thursday 20 June 2013

My First Ever Patchwork Quilt - Part II

As many of you may know, my main activity this summer has been making a patchwork quilt, mainly because my other plans were cancelled due to illness. You can read my first post about this here. I thought it was about time I gave an update on my progress, which has been slower than before as I have been up and about and seeing my friends.

The patchwork top was finished last week and so I went over to Jenny's Patchwork Studio, to buy the wadding and the fabric for binding my quilt. I went for the wadding that Jenny recommended as she is clearly the expert, and was able to get two more metres of the binding fabric. As ever Jenny was very helpful and her studio is really lovely with a great set-up and classes running throughout the week. I went to John Lewis for the backing fabric, which is also really beautiful.







I chose to bind my quilt using this technique, where the binding is wide, so that I could make the most out of the pretty pattern of the fabric, also in the hope that it would bring together the rest of the pattern and make my quilt look more cohesive. Im pretty please with the result, though I wish I had been more accurate with my measuring and cutting as my corners don't quite miter properly on the reverse side, however I don't think this is too detrimental to the overall look.





At the moment I am working on sewing the back of the binding to the backing by hand which is a lengthy process, and then I need to decide the best way to sew all three of my layers together. There are places around the country where you can send your quilts to be machine quilted, although the designs available here are more beautiful and intricate than anything I could achieve on my own machine, this is a very expensive process which could be up to £150, which I simply can't afford. I may try to quilt on my machine, or simply do it by hand, and I also haven't decided what sort of design to go for, whether to sew in the seams or to do something more complex such as a floral design.



Hopefully next time I post about my quilt it will be the finished article, perhaps even in situ on my new double bed in my university flat up in Edinburgh. I'm excited.

10 comments:

  1. Keep going Amelia! I can't wait to see it when it is finally finished, such a skill.
    Definitely my textiles idol (as you always have been!)
    Rowbs xx
    My Ginger Bread Journey

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  2. So exciting!It's looking beautiful!

    Can you put some contact info somewhere on your blog or make your email public on your blogger profile?? I always want to reply to your comments but can't ever find your email. :)

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    1. Thank you! Oh of course, I'll have a look into it, I'm very new to all this :)

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  3. You are so clever!!! My brain just won't work in such a way that you need to be able to envisage this.I would never get this project off the ground. I'm so impressed, I would love this on my bed! Well done!

    p.s I'm following you back on Bloglovin, I want to see how this quilt shapes up ;)
    Flora x
    www.twowithseven.blogspot.co.uk

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  4. Awh thank you so much Flora! That's so nice of you :) x

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  5. Wow Amelia! You've done a beautiful job .

    I wish I had your patience and talent ~

    I have a rocking chair that desperately needs a quilt like that!

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    1. Thank you so much Amy! Trust me I had moments of true exasperation, my mum has photos of me lying face down on the unfinished quilt in exhaustion! I'm taking a break from it down before quilting :)

      But thank you so much I'm so pleased with how it turned out, and you should give it a try, it's not actually as difficult as you might think.

      Also I've just had a look at your blog, it's lovely and I'll definitely be adding it to my reading list!x

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  7. It's very exciting indeed. I love your choices of fabric

    http://naomemandeflores.com/en

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