Showing posts with label quilting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quilting. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Zig-Zag Quilt Construction

There is so much craziness going on in my life right now, it's sort of ridiculous. But you don't need to hear about that, so instead I'm going to share with you one of my little, newly discovered joys.

Quilting.

I swore, swore that I was never going to quilt again after making my Mom's scrabble quilt a year and a half ago. Then I won that cute quilt top kit, and all of a sudden, I'm hooked!

I started it when I was at my Mom's and itching to do something creative, figuring I'd get a few triangle squares put together. But Lo! I got them ALL made up. And then I got all of the horizontal strips sewn together. Haven't gotten much further on it since returning to the city, but I'm itching to do more.

I think I've caught some sort of quilters rash. Is there a cream to help with this?

Anyways, I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to make the triangle squares. I didn't have access to either the internet or my Quilting Grandmother, but a little thought went a long way, and I wound up using the internet approved method after all!

I simply marked a diagonal line from corner to corner on the light blue fabric with a pen fabric pencil, then layered and pinned it to one of the patterned pieces.


Then I simply stitched 1/4 inch away from this line on both sides of the mark. I don't have any of those fancy quilters tools, so I just used the edge of my zig-zag foot. (Apt, using a zig zag foot for my Zig-Zag Quilt - maybe I should incorporate some zig-zag stitches to it as well!)

Then all you need to do is cut along the line, and voila! Two completed triangle squares!

Just make sure that you put right sides together, NOT wrong sides. Whoops!

Once I got the triangle squares together, I had a great time playing with different designs. Here's a few of the ones I tried, as shown in some quick figures I made in Powerpoint. (BTW, it was ridiculously easy to make these in the program, once you get your square design made. Keep that in mind!)

Option 1: Keeping all like fabrics together in a zig-zag. I liked the idea of it because I love all the fabrics in the kit, and this was a great way to show them off. But I wasn't a huge fan of it in practice, since some of the more directional prints looked off.


Option 2: I mixed up the fabrics in this version, which I liked much better. Actually, this design was a bit of a whoops. I was trying to make the bigger, 3 square deep zig-zags, but messed up the sides. While it was a neat effect, the centre peaks looked too much like arrows, and I wasn't a fan of the affect.


Option 3:
What I was trying to do in option 2. I seriously considered this one, because I felt that the larger zig-zags really showcased the fabric well. But in the end, I simply liked the final option best.


Option 4 (and obviously my choice): I really did like the small zig-zags from option 1, but with the mixed up pattern. But instead of zig-zagging across the shorter width of the quilt, I decided to make them go across the long edge of the quilt. It worked out really well with 4 zig-zag rows.

3 of the horizonal rows are missing, being stitched up and draped over a chair. But you can see the affect.

As it turns out, this is exactly how Nikol made her version of the quilt. Hehehe, whoops! Oh well, we'll have twin quilts!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Sewtropolis Quilt Kit Giveaway Winner!

HOLY HANNAH, 3 posts on 3 consecutive days! Don't get used to this, I really don't have that much free time right now!

Sewtropolis is a sewing studio and fabric store located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where you can come by and take a class or just use their sewing room for a very low hourly rate. I'm sort of desperate to go visit it, because it's basically my dream sewing place.

Well recently, the Sewtropolis studio blog, run by Nikol, moved over from blogspot to wordpress. In order to encourage her followers to follow her in the move, she hosted a giveaway for a kit to make this adorable baby zig zag quilt top (based on a design by Cluck Cluck Sew).

AND I WON! :D

Honestly guys, I'm having a fantastic month! Totally made my dreary Monday morning when I received that text on my phone.

Of course, this means that I'll be learning to quilt again. I swore to never quilt again after making a scrabble quilt for my Mom.

Okay, it's flipped sideways, but you can only tell because of the star in the middle and the weird angle. :) Dimensions are 3.5 x 3.5 feet. It was supposed to be bigger, but I forgot about seam allowance. Give me a break, it was one of my first real sewing projects!

This was the backing fabric, a soft flannelet with random words all over it. PERFECT!

*gesters you over*
But let me tell you a secret. I've secretly been wanting to try it again. There is nothing more cozy than a quilt, and considering my love of colours, it's right up my alley!
*ssshhhh* Don't tell anyone! I have a quilting-hating rep to maintain. ;)

Ahem. Anyways, if nothing else, it'll be a fun project to tackle, and will definitely force me to practice my straight stitching! Plus it's baby-sized! Baby-sized things are too much fun!

Of course, this time I'll be using a grown up sewing machine instead of poor little Herbert here:

Aw Herbert. My first sewing machine! A $20 Walmart special. He was such a trooper too, and great for hauling along to sewing/craft nights! I've passed him along to a friend last December (was sad to see him go, too). Actually, I'm heading over there this evening with a bunch of supplies from my stash to help her get started. YAY ENABLING!

Now I just need to get at my sewing machine, Maggie, which won't happen until at least next month. GUYS, I JUST WANT TO SEW! :(

Thanks again, Nikol of Sewtropolis. I hope you enjoy your new blog home!
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