Posts categorized: Quilting

Half-baked Blueprint: Rail-fence Baby Quilt

It’s been a long time since I followed a quilt pattern. The last twenty quilts I’ve made have been largely or completely my own designs, or my own take on something I’ve seen. The hardest technical part is doing the math and figuring out if I have the right amount of fabric for what I’ve chosen to do, but simply believing that I don’t need a pattern was a huge initial hurdle. Remembering that hurdle, I’m starting this Half-baked Blueprint series. They’re not patterns; think of them as rough outlines of the inspiration, math, fabric, and techniques I use in some of my quilts—there’s a lot you’ll have to fill in yourself. The rail fence “Noble Blooms” quilt from earlier this year is a good place to start. My hope is that it will inspire other quilters to play with quilt top designing rather than always reaching for published patterns.

The Blueprint

The quilt:

40.5″ square quilt, made from 25 8″ finishing blocks

The blocks:

Starting with 24 2.5″ x width of fabric strips…

Sew six strip sets of four strips each…

Cut four 8.5” blocks from each strip set, totaling 24 blocks.

Then, cut a 4.5” x 8.5” section off two of the strip sets and sew those together to create one more 8.5” block.

Alternative: if your strips have 42.5″ of usable width (after you remove selvages), you can get all 25 blocks from only 20 strips—5 blocks per strip set, and no pieced extra block. Some strips will have this width, others won’t; each manufacturer, fabric line, and even bolt varies on the total width of fabric.

The layout:

Basic: Five rows of five blocks each, alternating the direction of each block.

Intermediate: use values of the strips within blocks to create secondary patterns (sketch it before piecing or use a design wall).

Advanced: solve the n-queens problem with your placement like I did to please my nerdy mind (no block is on the same horizontal, vertical, or diagonal as another of the same block set).

Go Further (optional):
Use embellishment or applique to personalize it
Add borders to make it larger
Add asymmetrical borders to play with negative space

My Decision-making Process

What caused me to make the choices in my own quilt? In this case, form followed supplies and time. I had a Rolie Polie of 23 2.5″ strips, a 54″ square piece of Minky, a stash to draw from for binding, but nothing much that coordinated with the Rolie Polie otherwise. And, I had about a week and a half to make the quilt.

Rail fence blocks can be arranged in any number of ways. Since I had four distinct color and value groups (brown, pink, green, beige) with an equal number of strips in the roll (more or less), I was inspired to make all of my strip-sets with one strip of each from darkest to light. Because I could only cut four blocks from each strip set, I had to add one additional strip from my stash to the Rolie Polie, and piece a block together from two half blocks to make 25. As I mentioned above, the layout of blocks was mostly to appease my problem-solving mind (although I deviated with the planned layout for the half-and-half block and another spot where I flipped a block when sewing rows and didn’t want to rip).

I wanted to personalize it, since the recipient’s sibling’s quilt had her initials in the quilting, so I chose to applique her first initial and a crown (playing off the meaning of her name) in one corner, using one of the few FQs in my stash that matched the other fabrics. You can download a printable version for your own project (if you want a curly, be-crowned ‘G’).

Quilting possibilities are only limited by your imagination. I used a large-scale, all-over flowery free motion motif based on the flowers in the fabric for two reasons: it could be done quickly, and was a good project for me to play with free-motion on. I chose to use a cream-to-brown variegated thread because it was the best match in my stash, but also because it blended the quilting into the varied colors of the fabrics.

Overcoming Obstacles

Because I worked with 2.5″ strips, the math on this was simple. But, that didn’t mean everything went to plan. I didn’t measure the width of the strips, so I couldn’t cut my planned five blocks from each strip set and had to improvise by finding a 24th strip (actually, two 21″ strips from a fat quarter) and piecing a block together from the leftovers of other strips sets. Sure, it meant reevaluating the block layout I’d planned initially (as well as choice of binding, as I’d planned to use the leftover strips and that fat quarter as the binding), but in the end, I am pleased with the final quilt (and, I like the solid binding far more than I think I would have liked the original plan). In the blueprint above, I went with the assumption that you might also run into this issue.

Noble Blooms front — “Noble Blooms”, Rachael Arnold, February 2014, 40″x40″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

Road To Community

Posted in Quilting

In 2012, I participated in a monthly sampler group at one of the quilt shops in Utica. I kept up with the block piecing during the course of the sampler, but they’ve been languishing in a box ever since. I lost track of both the number of times I’ve sketched layouts for the twelve blocks and the layouts I liked, so the blocks sat unset and out of mind. Then, a need to carve out sewing time amidst wedding planning grew, culminating in a strike of inspiration for a simple layout for these blocks. So, out they came!

Road to Community (Front) — “Road to Community”, Rachael Arnold, September 2014, 82″ x 82″

The theme of the sampler was “Road Trip”, with each block name corresponding to a place in the United States. I described each of the blocks in quarterly installments as I was working through them: Road to California, Cheyenne, and Baton Rouge; Road to Oklahoma City, Philadelphia Pavement, and Alabama; Kansas Star, Chicago Pavements, and Union Square; and Connecticut, State of Georgia, and Road to the White House.

Although the layout eluded me, I knew I wanted to riff off the idea of road trips and asphalt. I gathered additional fabric for the quilt as I traveled that year, picking up the grey texture from Downtown (Windham Fabrics) along with white and yellow batiks to fit the road markings and asphalt idea. I realized later that there wasn’t nearly enough of the grey texture, so I purchased a length of Crackle (also Windham Fabrics).

Road to Community (front detail) — “Road to Community” (detail), Rachael Arnold, September 2014, 82″ x 82″. Photo by Carl Pfranger

The final layout mixes those two grays and a third mottled gray fat quarter from my stash in an arbitrary arrangement pieced to get the lengths needed from the fabric I had on hand. The chunks of different shades remind me of the patched roads in central Missouri that I spent so many hours on during summers of my childhood. While some kids played the “don’t step on the black tiles of checkerboard floors” game, I played the “don’t let my feet touch the floorboard over the clay-red road sections” game to amuse myself when the four of us were packed in the back seat of a Honda Prelude en route from Kansas City to the Lake of the Ozarks.

Road to Community (quilting detail) — “Road to Community” (detail), Rachael Arnold, September 2014, 82″ x 82″. Photo by Carl Pfranger

It took another few months before I had a chance to quilt it. The quilting is a mix of stitch in the ditch and free motion. I took inspiration from rumble strips for the road markings, tire tracks in the open spaces, some filler “cracks”, and free-motioned lines to fill in the rest of the space. The blocks are stitched in the ditch to not obscure the colors with the dark gray quilting thread (don’t look closely at my attempts to free motion stitch in the ditch with contrast thread, please!). Fairfield Quilters 80/20 batting provided a good quilting surface (and was the only thing I had to go out and purchase in 2014 to complete the quilt).

The backing started life as an XL twin duvet cover that I bought on clearance at Target a few years ago. I was disappointed when I unpackaged it and found that it had a gray back rather than the print on both sides. Even with the accompanying sham, there wasn’t enough printed fabric to piece the full back, so I left one of the seams in the duvet and called it good enough. Its origin seems quite fitting to the theme considering that I now have to road trip to shop there (oh how I miss thee, my clean, organized, red and white homie). Of course, the print fits too, considering the reliance on cassette tapes if one planned to have any music on those central MO trips.

Road to Community (back) — “Road to Community” (back), Rachael Arnold, September 2014, 82″ x 82″. Photo by Carl Pfranger

It’s bound in a white batik that I bought intending to use in one of the other possible top layouts. I tried a new method of machine binding (sew to back, flip to front, secure), and am insanely happy with how it turned out. It’s almost perfect.

Road to Community (label detail) — “Road to Community” (back detail), Rachael Arnold, September 2014, 82″ x 82″

The final piece was a custom label I designed as we worked on the blocks and printed on one of my Spoonflower label orders last year. Throughout the course of the sampler, I found the community of quilters in Utica that I was so sad to leave. I hope I can find one here in Burlington soon. Just don’t tell them that the duvet cover backing is polyester (another thing I didn’t realize when I purchased it). That should stay our little secret.

road-trip-photographer — I think I should start a new photography series titled “Photographs of the Photographer”

Stars for Lennon

Posted in Quilting

My very oldest (and dear) friend’s three-year-old son is my most dedicated fan (of the quilts, at least). I’ve mentioned the love he’s given the quilt I made for his birth quite a few times on here. While his newborn sister can’t bear the distinction of receiving the first quilt I ever made, I wanted it to be special too—so, she’s receiving the first quilt I’ve made with Kokka fabric. Okay, maybe that doesn’t sound special to you, but I’ve lusted after many Kokka fabrics and this quilt finally convinced me to buy some.

Stars for Lennon front — “Stars for Lennon”, Rachael Arnold, March/April 2014, 48″x48″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

It all started with an FQ of Nursery Versery, but in the final top there’s only one print from that set (the patchwork print). The back is pieced, and includes a big chunk of the mouse print from that line. The stuffed giraffe and doll quilt that I gifted at her shower were also made with those prints.

Stars for Lennon quilt back — “Stars for Lennon” (back), Rachael Arnold, March/April 2014, 48″x48″. Please forgive the half-basted binding.

When I was shopping around (there are two shops around here that carried the line!), I fell in love with the design of a print in Comma that was conveniently placed next to Nursery Versery on the shelf.

However, I couldn’t figure out how to turn that layout into a quilt top using the prints I’d purchased in the Kokka FQ. So, I pulled more prints from the shop in a complementary color scheme. Those ended up comprising the top of the quilt, paired with Essex Linen.

I drew up the 12″ block in Illustrator, then printed it and created templates. Another first: I’ve never made a whole quilt top that required templates to piece the blocks. My technique leaves much to be desired—there are more lost points than there are good ones and the whole top was a little wobbly before quilting. But, I’m happy with the final outcome even if it has flaws.

Stars for Lennon label — “Stars for Lennon” (label), Rachael Arnold, March/April 2014, 48″x48″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

I planned to do an all-over swirl like I did on the coordinating doll quilt, but had to work around a broken FMQ foot. Limited to my walking foot and a floating embroidery foot (which worked better than expected), I let the quilt talk to me and it turned out even better than I expected. Pellon Nature’s Touch batting gives it a good weight and drape.

Stars for Lennon quilting detail — “Stars for Lennon” (quilting detail), Rachael Arnold, March/April 2014, 48″x48″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

The 48″ square quilt is bound in a Denyse Schmidt print and topped off with a label. I hope she loves it as much as her brother loves his.

lennon-quilt-detail-cover — “Stars for Lennon” (detail), Rachael Arnold, March/April 2014, 48″x48″.

If she doesn’t love it (and if her brother doesn’t steal it), Moof is always willing to take it back.

Sneak Peek—Nursery Versery Quilt

Posted in Quilting

Just a bit of the back for now.

Noble Blooms

Posted in Quilting

One of my earliest stash purchases was a Rolie Polie of Indian Summer that I’ve been holding on to for the perfect project. Its day in the sun (or perhaps clouds, based on recent weather) has finally come in the form of a quilt for a newborn girl.

Because the Rolie Polie only had 23 strips, I had to add in one of a coordinating dot from my stash to finish up the strip sets needed for the 8″ blocks. To personalize the quilt, I did a reverse raw-edge applique of her first initial in one corner. The pale pink solid (exact type unknown) doesn’t stand out as much as I’d hoped in the curly, light typeface I used, but that’s okay. You can also see in that corner that I was one block short of the 25 needed for the quilt, so the very last one is pieced from two strip sets.

Noble Blooms Detail — “Noble Blooms” (detail), Rachael Arnold, February 2014, 40″x40″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

The piecing was a breeze but the quilting was not. I decided to try a new FMQ design (don’t scrutinize my sloppy first attempt!), so I used leftovers from the top to make a doll quilt/FMQ tester. The tension left something to be desired, but was good enough. Moving on to the quilt, I broke two needles. Then, my darning foot broke! I was able to finish up the quilting with my floating embroidery foot, but it was rather obnoxious and puts a kink in the progress of other projects.

Noble Blooms back — “Noble Blooms” (back), Rachael Arnold, February 2014, 40″x40″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

The back is a Minky that came from my stash (actually, the result of an incorrect shipment when I ordered the paisley backing for the Peter Rabbit quilts. Thank you, Fabric.com for your great customer service). In between is a low-loft cotton, likely Pellon Nature’s Touch White or Warm & White—possibly even both, as it’s joined stashed pieces. The quilting was done with a Gutermann brown-to-cream variegated thread. It’s bound in a lime solid from stash.

Noble Blooms set — “Noble Blooms” and accompanying items, Rachael Arnold, February 2014, 40″x40″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

A Minky giraffe made with backing leftovers completes the shipment. I tried something new with this round of Simplicity 2613 giraffe-making: the ossicones and neck-hair details are made with pinked fabric from the quilt. The ossicones especially worked out so well that I might continue using fabric in the future. As it was, it was a great way of eating up more scraps.

Noble Blooms Giraffe — “Noble Blooms” and accompanying items, Rachael Arnold, February 2014, 40″x40″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

I hear that the Impressions Baby Quilt and stuffie that I sent her sister are well-loved possessions, so I hope that the baby comes to love her own set just as well.

“Noble Blooms” (detail), Rachael Arnold, February 2014, 40″x40″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

It’s probably a bit gauche to mention this when the result is a gift, but this project was entirely from stash—fabric, batting, thread, giraffe eyes and stuffing, … everything. Go go gadget stash busting in 2014!

Stash Impressions

Posted in Quilting

My latest quilt is being shipped off this weekend, so its debut here will have to wait until it arrives. In the mean time, I dug into my stash today for a small gift for that quilt recipient’s sister. I still had a few bits and pieces left over from the quilt I made her in 2012—the Impressions Baby Quilt—so I thought it high time to round out her gifts with a doll quilt (prop Vermont Teddy Bear not included).

It was an extraordinarily fast project; all the half-square triangle blocks were already sewn up and sitting in my scrap bin from the original quilt piecing, waiting to be stitched up into something. Finished size is 15″×20″.

A scrap of 80/20 batting and a bit of stashed cuddle-type fabric that’s cut edge shed so much I’m amazed there’s still fabric finished up the quilt sandwich. I quilted it with just a few straight lines following the HST seams, which is how the larger quilt was quilted. I bound it with more scraps from the line that were already conveniently cut into 2.5″ strips.

More of my stash was busted and one little girl won’t be so sad when her baby sister receives a package next week. That’s not too shabby for an hour or so on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Surgery and Resuscitation (Of the Quilt Variety)

Posted in Quilting

I’ve mentioned how well-loved my very first quilt has been in the hands of its owner. He finally let his mom send it back to me for some therapy after the binding ripped, so I got a chance to see just how badly it’s held up over the past three years (mind you, of very extreme use). I’ll let the photos speak for themselves:

quilt-surgery-before-1 — “The Baby Quilt”, Oct. 2011, photographed Feb. 2014.

quilt-surgery-before-2 — “The Baby Quilt”, Oct. 2011, photographed Feb. 2014.

The places in the center where the fabric is missing are where I used silk. Lesson learned there. The rest of the center has a few split seams but is in decent shape otherwise. The inner border has issues on both seams. Thankfully, the back is in much better condition—a few of the rips from the front around the inner border are also present on the back, but they aren’t bad. Mostly, the back just shows how badly the quilting itself held up.

When I first looked at it, I didn’t think I could rehabilitate the front at all. But over the course of a few days of contemplation, I managed a plan.

quilt-surgery-after-6 — “The Baby Quilt”, Oct. 2011, photographed Feb. 2014 after restoration.

First, I patched all of the missing silk pieces with an off-white cotton (stashed Moda Bella Etchings Stone if memory serves). I cut the patches slightly larger than needed, then used a three-step zig-zag to secure it, going over other loose seams while I was at it. It’s not the cleanest solution, but it is sturdy, quick (I was on a deadline), and gives it character. I added more colorful patch to the bottom corner where there was a small hole, and a couple to the back where holes had gone all of the way through the quilt.

quilt-surgery-after-9 — “The Baby Quilt”, Oct. 2011, photographed Feb. 2014 after restoration.

Because the borders were in such bad shape, I decided to completely cover them with new fabric by thinking of the quilt as a giant quilt-as-you-go block. First, I replaced the inner border with a yellow flannel from my stash. Then, I made the outer borders with a brown flannel that is very similar to the one I used originally. I sewed the seams for both with the three-step zig-zag to better hold the holey fabric below, then topstitched over them with the same stitch for even better holding-power.

quilt-surgery-after-5 — “The Baby Quilt”, Oct. 2011, photographed Feb. 2014 after restoration.

quilt-surgery-after-7 — “The Baby Quilt”, Oct. 2011, photographed Feb. 2014 after restoration.

I stitched a line of quilting through the outer border to secure it to the back, bound it with more of the brown flannel, and called it good. The binding isn’t the best job, but is secure. Hopefully its owner will let it get some rest in favor of his newer quilt, but at least it’s in stable condition again. A lot of threads need to be trimmed from the failing quilting, too, but I haven’t done that part yet.

Coming soon: photos of the quilt for his sister that I should have finished this week, but alas, will have to wait another week or two.

Two Quilts for Twin Babies

Posted in Quilting

“There is something delicious about making the first stitches of a quilt. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” — Beatrix Quilter

When one must make two quilts in the same approximate timeframe as typically takes one, simplicity is key. At least, this is what I kept reminding myself when I felt that the basic layout I’d planned for these two quilts was too plain. I worked a bit outside of my comfort zone in terms of palette and style, but the parents chose to go with a Peter Rabbit theme for their nursery, and once I found a Beatrix Potter panel for sale, it seemed like a good idea to go with it. While basic, it’s also a more traditional layout than I’m used to.

Twin Quilts Both — Once upon a time there were two little Peter Rabbit quilts, and their names were—”Mopsy Green” and “Flopsy Purple” (details), both 43″x43″, Rachael Arnold, January 2014.

“Thank goodness I was never sent to quilt school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” — Beatrix Quilter

Of course, I couldn’t restrain myself and keep it entirely simple; it’s hard to tell in the photographs, but the brown strips surrounding the panel strips are gathered, giving them a bit of texture. It may have been better to make them wider (so it was more obvious), but I was limited in the amount of fabric I had to work with. That, actually, explains many of the design choices. I fabric shopped before deciding on the design (or perhaps you could say that I changed the design after fabric shopping), so there was a lot of give and take when I went to create the quilts.

Twin Quilts Detail — “Mopsy Green” and “Flopsy Purple” (details), both 43″x43″, Rachael Arnold, January 2014.

“It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is soporific. With luck, the same cannot be said of quilting.” — Beatrix Quilter

The quilts are backed in paisley Minky, and have a layer of low-loft 80/20 batting inside (from stash scraps, so I’m not positive about the brand). The quilting is very basic—stitches in the ditches for the panel and brown strips, simple meander on the block sections—in a poly/cotton beige Gutermann thread. I am always amazed at how fast free-motion quilting goes; it took about the same amount of time to do all of the FMQ as it did the 12 straight lines across each quilt.

Twin Quilts Collage — “Mopsy Green”, “Flopsy Purple”, both 43″x43″, Rachael Arnold, January 2014.

“No more ~~twist~~ binding!“ — Beatrix Quilter

Due in part to my aforementioned fabric conundrums and a desire to make the quilts ever a bit larger, I decided to try out a new binding technique and use the backing as self-binding. By cutting the batting 3.5″ larger than the top, I was able to support a thicker binding and gain an extra 1.75″ on each side of the quilt. Plus, it gives the front even more texture. The somewhat sparse quilting density kept the batting from shrinking all that much, and everything went together pretty well.

Twin Quilts Labels — “Mopsy Green” and “Flopsy Purple” (back details), both 43″x43″, Rachael Arnold, January 2014.

“Now run along, and do get into mischief.” — Beatrix Quilter

The two quilts have been shipped off to the twins, who were born in December. I hope they don’t get into too much mischief for now, but I bet their parents will be kept quite busy! Now off to get in more mischief myself, as I have another baby quilt to finish by next Friday.

Wonders of Impromptu

Posted in Quilting

When I made “Disappearing Seven Wonders” last year, I purchased far more fabric than I needed for that top—including prints from the green and orange colorways. When it came time to whip up something for my nephew’s 13th birthday, it was the perfect stack to pull out of my stash.

“Wonders of Impromptu”, Rachael Arnold, January 2014, 50″x72″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

In the past, I’ve always precisely planned out my quilts. When I set out to do so with this one, I realized that while I needed to aim for a certain final dimension and thus height of the individual strips, the actual piecing didn’t have to be precise. So, I branched out in a new direction and played with impromptu piecing. I worked with 2.5″, 3.5″, and 5″ WOF strips and pieced the different sections without much planning at all. It was a fun exercise.

Wonders of Impromptu detail — “Wonders of Impromptu” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2014, 50″x72″.

Sometimes I had to chop a bit off, or add a bit more to a strip, because they weren’t the right width for the quilt.

Because 2.5″ + 3.5″ is greater than 5″, I was able to trim down different sizes and mix up seams for an even more arbitrary layout. It all ended up creating a fun flow to the quilt, and a more interesting layout than my original thought of simple floating strips.

Wonders of Impromptu back — “Wonders of Impromptu” (back), Rachael Arnold, January 2014, 50″x72″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

The backing is pieced from a Ty Pennington Impressions home dec print and leftovers from the front.

Wonders of Impromptu label — “Wonders of Impromptu” (label), Rachael Arnold, January 2014, 50″x72″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

Although this home dec fabric is lighter and finer than the backing on my last quilt (Thorny Patchwork), I chose to stick with straight-line quilting on this one to avoid more annoyances with broken needles. It’s slightly less dense than most of my recent projects, but still has a nice drape thanks to the low-loft cotton batting (Warm & White or Nature’s Touch White—possibly both—since I pieced it together from scraps in my stash).

I wanted to make sure it was in his hands by his birthday (I’m notoriously late in sending birthday cards, but managed to send his two sisters’ quilts on time last fall), so I machine bound this. It’s not perfect, but it is secure and looks fine from the front.

Wonders of Impromptu binding — “Wonders of Impromptu” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2014, 50″x72″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

Now it’s time to focus on a handful of baby quilts for recent births and others due soon!

Wonders of Impromptu back detail — “Wonders of Impromptu” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2014, 50″x72″. Photo by Carl Pfranger.

2014 Skill Improvement Goal: Binding

Posted in Quilting

On my latest quilt, I machine-sewed the binding rather than hand-finishing like I’ve done with most of my other quilts. It has its advantages: rather than spending the weekend (and maybe longer) sewing almost seven yards of binding to the back of a quilt, it was finished in fifteen minutes (maybe fewer; I wasn’t watching the clock). It’s also stronger and will presumably hold up longer—my machine sews many more stitches per inch than I do by hand.

The disadvantage is aesthetic. I like how hand stitching hides the stitches completely (well, if you use a ladder stitch like I do). But, well-executed machine binding means that the stitching is near-invisible on the front, and very evenly-spaced on the back—which doesn’t bother me aesthetically, or at least not enough to justify the extra hand-sewing time on most quilts.

So, really, the disadvantage is that my machine binding highlights a skill deficit; I am not very proficient at sewing and folding my binding so that there is an even overlap all the way around the edge of the quilt. It’s not obvious when all of the stitches are hidden, but when the stitches are visible you can see the areas where the binding wraps to the back more deeply or not.

I compensated on this quilt by using a blanket stitch, which means it’s more obvious on both sides of the quilt, but the stitches securely caught all edges of the binding. Some parts were quite even, but others weren’t. One corner was especially shallow. Using fusible web to secure the binding to the back before I sew (rather than pinning) helps to some degree, but not completely.

In 2014, I want to focus on my binding skills. Whether I machine-bind more or not, I want to keep my binding width consistent on both sides of the quilt. Then, I can make better choices about when to use either technique.

Do you have any tips? What is your preferred binding method?