My MiL has been very careful to treat her grandchildren (18 at last count I think) equally and has made a circular quilt for each. These quilts have a drawstring (think the sort of rope that used to be on clotheslines) around the edge. The idea is that you use the quilt at play-time, especially when the baby goes visiting.
Thus, Baby has familiar looking item in an unfamiliar place and the parents don’t have to worry so much about up-chuck on the visitee’s new rug or carpet. When it’s time to go, pull the drawstring tight and all the toys and bits are collected up in the quilt. For a grace note, MiL ties teethers to the ends of the drawstring.
Ours was a much appreciated and used gift.
Ooooh, I had fifteen extra minutes between errands today and I was across the street from the quilt shop, so I stopped in…and found the perfect sunshine fabric…the right colors this time, but at $8.97 a yard, rather than the $2.99 I paid elsewhere, so I didn’t just buy two yards, I’m going to go home and measure exactly what I need. And I’m still going to quilt in sunfaces. But the worst part is I fell in love with about 20 fabrics, and I’ve spent half the day mentally planning quilts. Good thing I’m too poor!
That sounds incredibly cool! How big is it? Does she piece it, or is it solid? If it’s pieced, how does she get it round? I think my brother and his wife really, really need one of those.
The ark quilt went over very well; my boss was leaping around like a bonobo chimp on crack, she was so excited. Of course, she’s easily excitable, which is why she’s so fun to work with. She’s also the kind of woman who can’t replace a shirt button, so she’s always overly impressed with any sort of sewing. In other words, she’s the kind of person it’s always the most fun to make anything for.
CrazyCatLady, it’s about 1.5m diameter, with 8 wedges (like a pie). Each wedge is a different material, with versions of whatever-the-theme-for-that-quilt-is appliqued on each wedge. Our daughter got cats! The rim through which the drawstring runs is a solid colour. The obverse can be plain or a different theme - for my MiL it depends on how much time she has.
I’m glad your boss appreciated your thoughtful gift!
On second thought, trying to do a rounded frame and the drawstring thing seems a bit more complicated than I’m ready for at the moment. I’ve decided to go with something a bit less challenging–alternating nine-patch and snowball blocks, two different colors of each.
One group of nine-patches is purple and a baby animal print (teddy bears and bunnies on rocking horses and such), the other is bright yellow and a cute blue and aqua print with dolphins. One set of snowballs is the ark print from the other quilt, the other bright yellow appliqued with animals in the baby animal print. Each color group will be arranged in concentric diamonds, and I’m going to frame it with the ark print. Thanks to the miracles of strip piecing, I’ve already gotten all the blocks pieced–now I just have to make and apply my appliques and put it all together.
I just have one question, though. On the previous quilt, I used the premade binding strips, but this time I’d like to try making my own. I think I understand the instructions in my book as far as applying it, but I’m not entirely sure what bias-cut means. A hazy memory from home ec makes me think it means cut on a 45 degree angle from the selveges, but I’m not sure. Can somebody set me straight?
That’s correct. You basically cut strips on the diagonal and piece them together into a long strip. You can use all the same fabric or lengths of different ones. When you attach the individual strips to one another, put them at right angles (wrong sides togther) and sew on a diagonal, so there is less bulk when you fold the strip in half. A good way to apply it: fold the strip in half, wrong sides together. Lay it flush with the top edge of the quilt, raw edges along the quilt edge. Machine sew about a 1/4" in from the edge. Then when you go to whip stitch the back, your fold is done already, and you have the machine stitching to follow as you hand-stitch.
Another way to bind is to self-bind, meaning leave extra edge from the back and fold it to the front, folding the raw edge under and whipstitching the resulting fold edge to the quilt top.
In a lot of cases, bias binding is not necessary, unless you have a fancy curved edge. I use straight-grain binding*, and it holds up very well for years; I haven’t had one wear out yet. I cut 2 1/2" strips, sew them together at a 45 degree angle, and fold them lengthwise. The raw edges are matched with the edge of the quilt, and then you fold over the binding to hide everything, hand-stitching the back. It works great, but I needed a diagram the first several times.
*Actually what I mean is that the grain is straight. I cut along what I believe is the cross-grain and get 45" long strips, which will hold up longer in a binding, but I never can remember which is which, terminology-wise. Kittenblue, quiltguy, help!
So,DM, you’re saying you cut from selvedge to selvedge, winding up with strips that are as long as your fabric is wide, and that seems to hold up pretty well?
Yep. You’ll find instructions in various quilting books; it’s a common way to do it and less fuss than a bias binding. There are probably instructions online somewhere, but I wouldn’t know where.