Sunday 21 February 2010

Lessons learnt from making a string quilt

  • That it is not OK if you forget to reduce your stitch length when it comes time to tear away the paper backing
  • That the glue used to hold the first strip in place should be used sparingly and not slathered on like there is no tomorrow. Because there will be a tomorrow and it'll be one in which it will take forever to get every last scrap of paper off the glued first strip
  • That blocks get made quicker listening to this....particularly like the intro to the first song
 
  • That there are no such things as ugly fabrics when it comes to string quilts...especially not cows wearing Santa hats
 

  • That no matter how hard you try to make sure that all your fabrics look randomly placed...you'll still end up sewing two identical ones right next to each other


  •  That it seems alarmingly bubbled and it's going to have to have the life quilted out of it before it looks flat(ish)
  •  That even just one small section of the quilt holds a mass of memories - dresses made, fabric shops visited, late-night internet orders, surprise scrap bags bought (hence the cows with Santa hats on...you didn't really think I'd have knowingly bought it did you?), bags made, quilts for babies, growing children.
  •  That whoever said string quilts were a good way to use up scraps was not telling the truth...
Click on the quilt for a larger view

 Excellent tutorial was from here.

4 comments:

  1. Glue?

    Skipped that paper and use muslin or some cheap thin, well washed fabric.

    They are so pretty.

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  2. I really like this! And your comments are very funny. I haven't made my first string quilt yet, but I keep seeing them on the web and plan to do it.

    I came to your blog because I saw your comment on Oh Fransson's blog...it's my birthday tomorrow (3/3) and I noticed it's your birthday the day after. Happy Birthday to you!

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  3. I love your quilt and your posting about it!

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  4. Pretty much the greatest quilt I have ever seen! I'm currently working on a string quilt, and your quilt just inspired me to keep plugging away at it. The results are amazing!!

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