Hello Dear Reader,
Someone very very lovely, sent me a quilt to finish. It is made by hand and I’ve spent many evenings unpicking the tacking stitches, removing the paper templates and machine sewing block together. I’ve been given enough blocks that I’m using them to make three small quilts. One will be a throw for our arm chair, one will be for mum and one for DB’s mum. I think they will love the traditional designs and I am in awe of the tiny hand stitches. Today, I backed and quilted the first of the three. To back and quilt a quilt, you will need fabric for the backing. I have used a length of cotton flannel, its lovely and soft. I had to cut and sew it to the right size. I bought it from the jumble sale I went to. I stick my backing to the floor (right side facing the floor) with duct tape! I know this is not the ‘trad’ way but it works for me!
I give the backing a light spray with 505 spray, it’s a temporary adhesive which disappears when the quilt is washed. I buy this locally from the craft shop in Liskeard, called Painters - Here’s the link to them.
I then lay the batting on top of the backing. You can flip it back and relay it flat if there’s any wrinkles as the adhesive just make it tacky. I buy the wadding or batting from Painters in Liskeard too! Np-spend-vember was well and truly broken today as I went there and bought batting and adhesive spray to finish some quilts.
They are not paying me to advertise, I just think they are brilliant and sell everything I need for quilting and the people who work there are lovely.
I then lay my quilt top on to the two layer, with the right side up and position is where I want it. I kneel on the quilt itself and peel half of it back, spray with 505 spray and then position the quilt as I want it. I then do that with the other half of the quilt.
The whole process takes about half an hour for a small quilt. I king size quilt requires furniture removal and the use of the dining room for the day! I then put my hand onto the side of the quilt and pull the duct tape carefully and slowly away. I’ve not ripped a quilt yet!
You can see I have a ‘bubble’ so I pulled the quilt top partly off and laid it down again but I’m never exact or perfect and usually other people don’t notice it. I then trim it and iron it which takes away any wrinkles or bubbles that I don’t want to sew into my quilt.
I’m simply sewing along the edge of each individual block of fabric in a simple series of sewing up and down, side to side and then all the diagonal lines. I stopped when I lost the light this afternoon as it’s easy to make mistakes in dim light. I’ll get another one done tomorrow and I can start ticking UFOs off my list.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx
