Our guild didn't make too many rules. Those that exist are: must be quilted, other solids are allowed, any other Madrona Road print is allowed. Not too bad!
Well then the next step would be determining the design. This one threw me at first. I really wanted to make something out of my numerous quilt books I collect and never use ;) But then I wanted it to be original. As well as involving lots of negative space to force me to practice my FMQ skills.
I wanted to make the quilt functional so I designed it to be a twin size quilt - allowing 8 inches of overlap on 3 sides. I have two circles in the middleish and patchwork towards the top. Once I had rough dimensions I knew how much fabric for the background to purchase.
The large oblong circle I wanted to be patchwork of six of the fabrics. Well, then I needed to print some templates.
I numbered them to help with my sanity. And since I printed these on my home computer some tape was involved on the larger pieces.
What's next? I rough cut around the curves of each piece by placing the paper templates on the wrong side of the fabric. After that, I took my 1/4" ruler and trimmed the two straight edges of each piece. This gave me a 1/4" seam to align the edges and make sewing easier.
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| (Template on top just to show you it) |
I then placed muslin on the right side of fabric. And then by sewing with the wrong side of Madrona Road up I was able to sew along the lines I just drew. By doing my applique this way I will have a finished edge and a "perfect" circle.
I did trim the muslin down to approximately 1/4" and I also snipped along the seam. By pressing the muslin to the wrong side of the Madrona Road fabric I have a nice finished edge. All that is left for this circle is to use a blanket stitch to apply it to the backing fabric.
I could have attached this via raw edge applique with fusible interfacing but I didn't want the stiffness of the interfacing. So, I decided to try something new by using the muslin and having a finished edge.
Hope your challenge piece is coming along well too!
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing your process, I would love to try something like this when I get time :o)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I didn't apply for our guild since there was that initial deadline of the end of the month, and I knew with international postage etc that it would give us very little time, so discretion was the better part of valour! I have my own Madrona Road quilt to make soon though, and I have big (literally) plans for it...
ReplyDeleteVery ambitious and unique. I'm impressed. I can't wait to see this!!
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing! I love it so far. Can't wait to see it when it's finished.
ReplyDeleteThis is very exciting to see! Please consider adding it to the Flickr group. I can't wait to see the finished project!!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be an awesome quilt! I love your design. We just got our fabric tonight and it's going to take me forever to decide what to do with it. Can't wait to see the finished product.
ReplyDeleteI saw the photo yesterday on the MQG blog and was wondering how you did that! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDelete