Velveteen star

Finally; to the velveteen quilt that I made my mum for Christmas. This quilt is entirely inspired by Katy's wonderful quilt that has been on my mind since I first laid eyes on it.

Katy very kindly and patiently answered my various questions on this quilt; I've never sewn with velveteen before and was a little daunted. I sourced my velveteen from all over the interworld, this line is a little old now and harder to come by. Having completed my sister's quilt before the end of November I had a load of time to make this quilt, but ended up making it the week before Christmas after hanging on and on for the background fabric which never arrived. In the end I plumped for this shot cotton and I'm kinda pleased it turned out this way.

Once I started, I was away in a cloud of sewing and productivity and VELVETEEN SNOW. Everywhere and everything was covered in a not so fine layer of the stuff, coming off the raw edges in blizzards. Veleveteen is a bit of a monkey to sew with as it turns out. I chose it because this quilt had to be warm and luxurious, and it fits that bill perfectly. Perhaps then I can forgive it for the snow and the walking about even when pinned together and the stretchiness.

The star is so simple that it goes together really quickly, I think the border that Katy added to this quilt made a huge difference, so I did the same, it also used up a few scraps. Each square was half a fat quarter, I wanted this quilt to be big so that it could be totally wrapped around to create a cocoon - my mum's house gets really cold in the winter.

Still, I didn't really appreciate quite how big it was until the top was finished. Enormous.

Layering it all together was a bit of a headache, but I now pin the backing to the floor so it's taut and work from there, it seems to work. I used the dottie quilt backing in aqua and made an investment buy in this walking foot for my machine...

Wendy very kindly showed me how to fit it (because I was completely clueless).

Next my thoughts turned to quilting and I was frozen with terror. I had 3 days to finish the quilt and needed to keep it simple, stripes came to mind but the wonderful Katy showed me this sketch.

I opted for lines rather than swirls. The joy of quilting it like this was doing it in more manageable quarters, rather than trying to stitch across the whole length of the quilt. So I sewed and I sewed and I watched episodes of ER back to back and eventually it was done. The foot was wonderful leaving me with no problems - well worth the investment.

I used this Aurifil thread as I wanted the stitches to melt into the background. At this point I felt like I could take a deep sigh of relief with my tight deadline and enjoy a night of binding. The quilting took me a couple of afternoons.

I always add any wording to the binding when it's already half sewn on to mimimise the chance of sewing it on upside-down/backwards/on the wrong side. It works.

I love the fact it's quite hidden away on the binding and like a secret message to the recipient.

It was very lovely cozy under the weight of it all, hand-stitching the binding, secretly wanting the quilt for myself. Again, many re-runs of ER were enjoyed in the binding of this quilt.

And the happy mix of joy when finishing a quilt combined with the sadness of it being over, like finishing a really good book. It felt very important making this quilt and giving it as a gift, I'm happy to say that it has been used a lot in the past few freezing weeks to keep my mum, passing children, grandchildren and even the dogs warm. It even gives me a bit of a glow to think about it.

15% off Echino and Anna Maria Horner this weekend

This weekend, there is 15% off all Echino and Anna Maria Horner fabric (including laminated cotton and flannel) just use the code EA15 at the checkout. Offer runs from 8am 31st March to 9pm 1st April BST. Happy shopping!

Loulouthi Needleworks and Flannel

image from Anna Maria Horner

New in at M is for make, Loulouthi flannels by Anna Maria Horner. These flannels are beautifully soft, and perfect for snuggling under or in.

Also new in are Loulouthi needleworks prints.

"Loulouthi Needleworks" prints are a clever translation of the traditional cross stitch craft into a printed cotton. Charming when simply used as a printed fabric, the 58" wide goods are printed with tiny X's just waiting to become a lovely hand-worked surface. Frame some of the vignettes for beautiful wall art, use some stitched squares in your next quilt or stitch up a whole border for the edge of a dress or some new pillowcases.

images from Anna Maria Horner

Handmade at home

I love getting pictures of things you have made, and today Kelly from Handmade at home sent me these pictures of a gorgeous top she made from Anna Maria Horner voile (colouring garden in sea). Read about it on her blog.

These pictures will soon be in the "M is for made' section on the website, and Kelly will receive 10% off her next order for her troubles. Take a closer look at the clothes hanger - she made that too!

Tie - top take three

To my surprise I actually did manage to finish my tie-top from 'Les Couleurs Francaises' this weekend, thanks in no small part to the rubbish bank holiday weather keeping us in the house.

You can see my 2 draft versions of this top here and here. I made it from Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile, in anticipation of stocking this fabric at 'M is for make' imminently. I am always searching for pretty dress-making rather than quilting fabric and this voile is perfect, it's so soft, drapes well and has a lovely sheen. I can't wait to use more of it.

The finished top has turned out well, I love the details, although they are a little hidden in the print, it has gathering along the seam on the bust and a pleat where the tie joins the top at the shoulder.

It fits nicely, when I make it in a different fabric, I will make the arm-holes maybe half a centimetre bigger as they feel a little tight, even though they didn't on the draft version. Also despite adding quite a bit to the length, I would still like to add maybe an inch more. I had first intended to make the top from Nani Iro fabric, but changed my mind last minute so had the wrong colour bias-binding, but you can't see it when it's on.

I had a great moment whilst putting it on, where I found myself looking for a label so I knew which way was the front and then realising that of course, there wasn't one.

It's beginning to look a lot like a dress...

 

The end of my pattern cutting course is fast approaching and I have been making some progress on my dress. Cutting the pattern out in the fabric was quite time consuming. I loved this fabric and used it without thinking about the fact that it has a stripe in both directions which has complicated things somewhat.

Firstly, I naively assumed that the stripes would run parallel, but they didn't, So I had to sacrifice the vertical stripe in favour of having the horizontal one perfect. It took me ages to line up the stripes right for cutting, and one side of the fabric seemed less straight than the other so for that side I had to make a whole pattern piece for ease of lining up the stripes, rather than cut it on the fold. I got there in the end! I also had to try and join the pattern up on the neckline and sides, I won't bore you with the detail there.

I also had problems finding a suitable lining fabric. I wish I'd used coordinating fabric from this range, but left it too late. Proper lining fabrics in the shops felt horribly synthetic and heavier than the voile, so I ended up using some nice 100% cotton sheeting instead, not an ideal colour, but hopefully it won't show.

I have sewn up the outside of the dress now. Learning from past mistakes I have taken my time and tried to enjoy the process rather than rushing through and making mistakes, despite my looming deadline. And I have really enjoyed it, I feel more confident sewing now, also I have made this dress a few times over the last few months in draft form so have had a bit of practise.

The gathered neckline turned out well, I sewed it from the middle to the top on both sides so that I would have it all lined up perfectly in the middle when I joined it to the main dress. It is quite hard to tell the right from the wrong side on this fabric, and combined with doing a french seam, there were a number of panicky moments when I thought I had sewed it the wrong side up. But I don't think I have so far, fingers crossed.

On the advice of my tutor, I used a new smaller (size 70) needle for my sewing machine. I wanted to avoid that problem you sometimes get with lighter weight silky fabrics where you can pull a long thread when sewing. I can't remember the last time I changed the needle on my machine so it was probably quite blunt. Anyway, it worked, no snags.

Anyway, here it is so far, next I must do the same for the lining fabric, and then join them together. I am nervous as anything about trying the finished dress on!

Anna Maria Horner wrap top from Autumn / Winter wear for women

Last night I finished this wrap top from Autumn / Winter wear for women using Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile fabric. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and am wearing it now (although with others layers because it is freezing today).

 

My hesitation about the bias binding on the arms was misplaced as it hangs just fine when its on. I ended up doing french seams all over, so the raw edges are safely encased. It certainly made it more complicated though, and I got in a complete muddle when joining the wrap top to the main part of the top. I sewed it on the wrong way round first after taking great care to match them up properly and pinning them. Then when I did get it right, I sewed too far away from the gather which ruined the affect and turned it into a number of messy pleats rather than a gentle gather. Finally I got it right and I'm glad I did enclose the raw edges as they frayed quite easily.

It has highlighted a problem with my style of sewing though. I really love sewing, but between the chaos and disorder of everyday life I only have small pockets of time in which to do it. Sometimes I'll do it while the kids are around and behaving themselves in which case I'll be distracted, often I will do it when they have gone to bed and the light it bad and I'm tired. Usually though it's in a rush, the result it that I can see mistakes I have made which affects the quality of the end result. The next thing I make I will take my time with and not be in such a desperate rush to get it finished and worn. Well, that's the idea anyway! Ahead of me I have 2 ideas, one a present for a friend, and another will be something for Spring for my daughter from this book, maybe a pretty top using more of this lovely Anna Maria Horner fabric.