Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Flange Bindings

There are different ways 
to finish a quilt.
This week I've been 
finishing a couple quilts 
using a flange binding
or sometimes referred to as 
a faux piped binding.

It's a great way to get a binding
finished by machine and a great way
to add a pop of color around the edge.

It's a fun look.

There are many good tutorials online
if you'd like to know more of the details.

It requires two different strips of fabrics,
one for the flange and one for the binding.
The flange is cut 1/4" larger than the binding.
I like a narrow binding, 2 1/4", so I
cut the flange 1 1/2" and the binding 1 1/4".

When the binding strips are sewn together
and pressed in half, it creates an 1/8" flange of color.


This binding is sewn on the backside of the quilt
and then turned to the front.
To finish the binding, it's sewn
in the ditch between the flange and the binding.

 Here is the baby quilt I was machine quilting.

It's a simple panel that required


just some quilting around the main animals.


Adding the flange, was a simple way
 to accent one more color  
without being overwhelming or 
adding another border.
Plus the binding was all done on the machine.
Perfect for a donation quilt.

****
The second quilt is from Sue Spargo's
free pattern, Instastitch, found on her website.

I finished it finally last week,
machine quilting in the ditch between 
most of the pieces.


Indigo Blue
2016-2018

This quilt turned out to be basically a two color quilt,
indigo and cream 
with a small amount of color and texture from the embroidery.


Adding the cream flange helped to give the quilt a crisp edge.
I had to use a bright backing to 
compliment the delightful embroidery on the front.

***
The final quilt with a flange binding
is a group quilt for a friend.


Grey can be the modern neutral and
was a wonderful background for the 
batiks and bright prints.
With the grey border and grey binding, I added
the raspberry batik flange


to cause the eye to stay in the center of the quilt 
and to add a last sparkle of color.
I think it's the perfect accent.  

It's fun to try new things.
This is a easy technique to add an accent of color 
and a wonderful way
to finish a binding completely by machine.
Give it a try.


Until Next Time-
Kyle


Thursday, February 15, 2018

I Wish I could Say....

I wish I could say,
I didn't have much to show you this week
because. . . 


I was on an African safari,


I had been sunbathing on some beautiful tropical beach,


or had impulsively joined the circus.

Unfortunately, nothing that exciting.

So instead,
I've been slowly working on


machine quilting a simple panel for a
baby quilt



Appliqueing my blocks for Christmas,


sewing a backing using leftovers,


and playing with some vintage hst's for my next doll quilt.

I just wanted to let you know
I've been sewing
and we'll see what I have done next week.

Until Next Time-
Kyle

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Wild Geese

I've always admired 
antique doll and cradle quilts.

found on Pinterest

Their humble patterns and
the irregularity of stitching give us
a tiny glimpse into the makers.
Was it sewn with
young hands learning to hold 
 needle and cloth or
older hands, stiff from life
 lovely sewing a small quilt for someone special?

Wendy, the Constant Quilter, issued a challenge to herself
and anyone else who wanted to join in the fun,
 to make one small quilt a month.
No rules, no pressure.
Whatever path you wanted to take.

How hard would it be to make one
small quilt each month?
Well, it was definitely fun,
but more challenging than I thought.

I decided to try and reproduce
one of the many doll or cradle quilts
I'd been saving on my Pinterest board.

Here is the original quilt 
someone pinned from 
Stella Rubin's Antique Quilts.


The funny thing after I started this, I
saw Temecula Quilts was making it
their mini of the month as well.
Too funny, but definitely a sign
I was going to have fun with my first challenge.

I had no problem looking through
my stash for similar fabrics.
I wasn't sure if the tan was originally tan
or a fugitive color.
It didn't matter. I decided to go as is.
I drafted the pattern
the size I wanted it to be.  

The challenge came
trying to be more liberated in my sewing.
When you spend years trying to
perfect your sewing skills and 
then to try and be more free or loose, it wasn't as easy
as you'd think.
Here's an example
of my flying geese.


I roughly cut rectangles close to the same size,
used large triangle pieces for the background,
and came up with some good variations.

I set the rows of geese together 
without measuring


and laughed when it came out so close to
equal measurements on the opposite sides.
When I try hard, that doesn't always happen!

I handquilted it with
a small cable in the rows as well as
 the outer borders and then
 around each flying goose.



This really was a fun project.

Wild Wings
17" x 26"

New and old side by side.


Thank you, Wendy, for the mini
monthly challenge.
I hope to be trying it again soon
with another antique doll quilt.
Check out Wendy's blog, to see her
first mini and also
Barbara's blog to see what she made. 
Time to join in?

Until Next Time-
Kyle