Working on quilting
Sep. 26th, 2006 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
celticdragonflyOkay, lemme start out with what will be my Standard Quilting Disclaimer.
Yes, I'm taking up quilting. Yes, it's going to be hand-piecing and hand-quilting, for the foreseeable future. Do not try to convince me that I should be doing machine quilting instead. I don't have a sewing machine yet and I find them incredibly intimidating. Also, I take care of small children - who CANNOT be in the study with me, but I can hand-piece on the couch with them downstairs. Do not try to convince me that quilting needs to be perfect, and I should be using fancy techniques with paper piecing or other things like that. The perfect has been the enemy of the good, and even the possible, for years now, and hey, they used to manage with scissors, thread, needle, and not much more. No, I don't want to do crazy quilts or picture quilts, I'm interested in traditional patchwork patterns. Yes, I'm starting out by reusing fabric, and that's what I want. If you attempt to convince me I should be changing any of these things - thus attempting to throw me back into the years of "I wish I was quilting but I'm not" - I will stick my fingers in my ears, sing "LA la la la la" a lot, and possibly delete your comment. My journal, I make the rules.
So, that having been said - I went out today and picked up the few supplies I needed. At Hobby Lobby I got quilting needles, a fabric marker, a 6 1/2 template square/ruler, and they had a pvc lap quilting frame on clearance, so I got that. They didn't have everything I wanted, so I called Karl to get the address and went to the Cabbage Rose, a local quilting store. Luckily Jamie fell asleep in the car, so I put him in the umbrella stroller and he stayed asleep in the store. At the Cabbage Rose I got a 25 mm Olfa rotary cutter, like the one I used to have that has vanished on me, and a leather thimble. I found out they have arrangeable classes on hand-piecing, but the arrangeable does not include Saturdays, sadly, and being a stay at home mom pretty much means weekdays business hours are impossible. Well, I'll just keep working on it myself from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
msminlr's advice and my reading.
I came home, and managed to carve out a little time to go after the fabric. I got the three calico shalwar kameez outfitsbkseiver made me lo, those many years ago, and took them into the study. Darn, it's hard to cut into those. I love the fabric, and I love them. I love the detailed work Mom did, and the fantastic buttons she found. (which are being saved) It's a testament to her work that when they wore out at stress points, it was NOT her seams that went, it was the adjacent fabric. I had to remind myself sternly that they are unwearable now, and I want to use them to keep that fabric I love in use, not cluttering up my closet.
So I started cutting into the top and pants of the light blue pair. The top is a mottled light blue print, and the pants are a solid light blue - close enough that I may want to use them with the teal top instead, they may be too close to each other for proper contrast. They are now all cut into panels, seams cut off, and the panels ironed. Ready to be cut into squares. Yes, there's more work in having to cut up the outfits - but the fabric price is great, and lots of sentimental value. And hey, I don't have to prewash the fabric.
What I *want* to do next is start cutting them into squares and start piecing. I'm thinking maybe I should cut up the other outfits first, then get ALL the squares done, so I can consider other combinations of colors in the ninepatch blocks.
Yes, I'm taking up quilting. Yes, it's going to be hand-piecing and hand-quilting, for the foreseeable future. Do not try to convince me that I should be doing machine quilting instead. I don't have a sewing machine yet and I find them incredibly intimidating. Also, I take care of small children - who CANNOT be in the study with me, but I can hand-piece on the couch with them downstairs. Do not try to convince me that quilting needs to be perfect, and I should be using fancy techniques with paper piecing or other things like that. The perfect has been the enemy of the good, and even the possible, for years now, and hey, they used to manage with scissors, thread, needle, and not much more. No, I don't want to do crazy quilts or picture quilts, I'm interested in traditional patchwork patterns. Yes, I'm starting out by reusing fabric, and that's what I want. If you attempt to convince me I should be changing any of these things - thus attempting to throw me back into the years of "I wish I was quilting but I'm not" - I will stick my fingers in my ears, sing "LA la la la la" a lot, and possibly delete your comment. My journal, I make the rules.
So, that having been said - I went out today and picked up the few supplies I needed. At Hobby Lobby I got quilting needles, a fabric marker, a 6 1/2 template square/ruler, and they had a pvc lap quilting frame on clearance, so I got that. They didn't have everything I wanted, so I called Karl to get the address and went to the Cabbage Rose, a local quilting store. Luckily Jamie fell asleep in the car, so I put him in the umbrella stroller and he stayed asleep in the store. At the Cabbage Rose I got a 25 mm Olfa rotary cutter, like the one I used to have that has vanished on me, and a leather thimble. I found out they have arrangeable classes on hand-piecing, but the arrangeable does not include Saturdays, sadly, and being a stay at home mom pretty much means weekdays business hours are impossible. Well, I'll just keep working on it myself from
msminlr's advice and my reading.I came home, and managed to carve out a little time to go after the fabric. I got the three calico shalwar kameez outfits
bkseiver made me lo, those many years ago, and took them into the study. Darn, it's hard to cut into those. I love the fabric, and I love them. I love the detailed work Mom did, and the fantastic buttons she found. (which are being saved) It's a testament to her work that when they wore out at stress points, it was NOT her seams that went, it was the adjacent fabric. I had to remind myself sternly that they are unwearable now, and I want to use them to keep that fabric I love in use, not cluttering up my closet. So I started cutting into the top and pants of the light blue pair. The top is a mottled light blue print, and the pants are a solid light blue - close enough that I may want to use them with the teal top instead, they may be too close to each other for proper contrast. They are now all cut into panels, seams cut off, and the panels ironed. Ready to be cut into squares. Yes, there's more work in having to cut up the outfits - but the fabric price is great, and lots of sentimental value. And hey, I don't have to prewash the fabric.
What I *want* to do next is start cutting them into squares and start piecing. I'm thinking maybe I should cut up the other outfits first, then get ALL the squares done, so I can consider other combinations of colors in the ninepatch blocks.
