Work in progress...

A while back, I started on my Gathering Flowers Quilt. Some of my blog readers may be too young to remember this.

I'm pleased to report that I have been making some progress lately. My main motivation has been making sure I cut out all the pieces of fabric I need before Innocent Crush sells out. I have been sewing in the evening when the kids are in bed. There are issues with this as I will demonstrate.

Spot the mistake? Let me make it easier for you.

Look at block number 2. Those of you who know me can probably imagine that I did utter a few well chosen bad words when I noticed this. I had even said to myself that I must check it before sewing because wouldn't it be frustrating to spot a mistake at this stage? Well, it was, very frustrating. In the future I will listen to that particular voice in my head.

I was further hampered by the fact I used my seam ripper last week for a spot of DIY and snapped the pointy bit off, making unpicking stitches very tedious.

But we learn by our mistakes, second time round I was extra careful. And here they are all shiny and perfect.

I need to make 2 more of these as I'm making a cot bed sized quilt 6 x 2. Neither of my kids are in cot beds (or ever were for that matter, straight from a cot to a massive single bed) but it seemed more achievable at this size.

Now that I finally have more than 2 blocks, I can think about how they will go together.

I think I prefer the latter, it's less perfect. Kind of how this quilt is turning out. I love the squares is creates and the rings of the petals which could have been paler to stand out more in hindsight.

So now I am back on track with this quilt, I'm hoping to finish it before it's intended recipient reaches her teens. She is currently 6 so I am feeling fairly confident.

Sew along complete!

Posts in this series:

1. Sewing from Japanese Craft books - what you will need and an overview
2. Sizing and figuring out the instruction page
3. Tracing out the pattern pieces 
4.  Sewing the garment
5. Making adjustments

I've been busy sewing this week, putting together my top for the sew along. It all went as planned, as per my rough version.

As I always do with this voile now, when I first cut the pieces out, I labelled which was the right side (and whether it was the front or back as they were quite similar) as it's quite hard to tell apart especially in poor light. This time round I managed to get the sleeves on the right way round, first time. Good to see I am learning by my mistakes.

I was thinking of using bias binding in a contrast colour on the raw edge of the neck facing, but didn't in the end as it would have been a bit too bulky. I ironed on light-weight interfacing to the fabric which made the edge quite stable. I also top stitched the facing on the right side to the seam allowance to stop it from rolling out when being worn.

I am really pleased with the end result. I love the pleats around the top, although I do regret centering the pattern  as it means I get a perfect mirror effect down the centre, when something a little less structured would have been better.

The one detail that still bothered me was the sleeves. They seemed a little out of proportion with the top, I think I will at some point hem them a little shorter and maybe play with the pleats to make them lie flatter. I would like some cap sleeves like the ones on my hunting and gathering top from Les Couleurs Francaises. More my kind of sleeve.

I like the idea of making one of the dress variations of this pattern. Like the one on the cover.

So that is it - sew along over. I hope you found it useful and managed to make something or have bookmarked this for a future project. Do send me pics of anything you make as I'd love to feature them here. Happy sewing!

Breaking news: quilting is fun

I made an unexpected discovery these last few weeks. Quilting is fun. And I think it may just catch on, pretty soon you will all be blogging about this new quilting craze. You already are? fair enough, I suppose it has been around for centuries after all.

I have been making my first few tentative steps into quilt making starting with the gathering flowers pattern that I mentioned a while back after I was inspired by this picture.

Image from http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com

So far I have just been cutting out the pieces and deciding which fabrics to use. The block in the pattern uses 2 sets of colours but looking at the one that Anna Maria Horner made, she used all sorts of different colours. And I like that less structured approach, also it means I get to choose a lot more combinations which is F.U.N.

So instead of 2 sets, I am using 4. Reading the post about this particular quilt, Anna Maria said that she had used a dark, medium and light tone fabric in each section and wished that she had switched the lightest to the petal rather than the centre. So I thought I would give that a go. Because really, I haven't got a clue what I am doing. I have almost entirely used Innocent Crush fabrics but also used a couple of precious Little Folks dobby voiles that have been sat in my stash waiting for something really special to come along.

The joy of discovering fabric that coordinates with my nails  

I have also encountered the term 'fussy cutting' for the first time. It sounds like the way my kids like to have their sandwiches served, but is actually about using the pattern on the fabric and deciding where to cut your shape based on this. I love doing this and it's something I have always done in smaller craft projects. Now I have a special term to describe it.

I kept the sections of the flower half from the charmed palette and half from the swept away palette. And then got cutting, old school style with scissors.

It's been a hectic few weeks around my place but I have found myself itching to get back to it and I suspect this will only grow as I begin sewing it all together. I'm only making the cot sized version as it is a good size and gives me a better chance of actually finishing the project.

So here is block 1 of 8. It's not perfect, and being a perfectionist it did annoy me a little that that it didn't all line up perfectly. But it's close enough. The next block I shall cut really carefully, especially the voile which seemed the most determined to cause me problems. I love the variation in texture it brings though, so I shall forgive it.