I have made a lot of Amy Butler projects lately for two reasons: there was a period where I was obsessed with her fabrics and am now catching up with the projects I planned; and I bought her book, In Stitches, and keep finding uses for various items. And so in looking through the book for the umpteenth time I saw the quilt pattern and decided to go for it since it would be a good way to incorporate multiple prints within a color scheme. K’s wedding colors were red, black and white. She is a little bit punk, a little bit emo and is into graphic arts and art nouveau, anything with skulls and knives, and loves roses and gerbera daisies (guess which are her favorite colors?). I tried to keep all of that in mind when looking for fabrics.
I also wanted to keep myself to a timeline so I wouldn’t be rushed to finish by mid-June. I started buying fabric in October and November and had everything by January. I then started prepping and cutting out pieces and getting the rest of my materials together. I bought a new sewing machine in April (yay tax rebate!) and started sewing the quilt top and layers together. I managed to finish the whole thing by Memorial Day weekend – one week before I was going to the wedding – during a bbq at my grandparents’ house with all of my family asking what I was doing (and my dad commenting that he was glad to have his dining room table back!).
The pattern I used is the “Patchwork Quilt” from Amy Butler’s In Stitches and there were a few things during the construction process that I had to work around or would recommend doing differently.
I also wanted to keep myself to a timeline so I wouldn’t be rushed to finish by mid-June. I started buying fabric in October and November and had everything by January. I then started prepping and cutting out pieces and getting the rest of my materials together. I bought a new sewing machine in April (yay tax rebate!) and started sewing the quilt top and layers together. I managed to finish the whole thing by Memorial Day weekend – one week before I was going to the wedding – during a bbq at my grandparents’ house with all of my family asking what I was doing (and my dad commenting that he was glad to have his dining room table back!).
The pattern I used is the “Patchwork Quilt” from Amy Butler’s In Stitches and there were a few things during the construction process that I had to work around or would recommend doing differently.
First, the amount of fabric required is immense. I managed to make the quilt double-sided because I had so much leftover after cutting the pieces for the front that I didn’t want to buy three more yards for the back. I even made K the "stash" bags (see previous post) for her birthday (prior to the wedding) and still had loads of usable-sized scraps left. I gave her a bag of the remnants to play with and I kept some for myself. I know that I did buy a few extra yards of fabric because I found a few more prints I wanted to incorporate, but I mostly stuck with the amount listed in the pattern and it was still too much. If you didn’t want 12 different fabrics, you could stick with half as many and adjust the amount of the fabric you buy - unless of course you really like to have remnants.
Second, the construction of the quilt would have been much easier and smoother if I had basted the whole thing rather than only pinning it. The large safety pins definitely held it together well, but it would have been much sturdier if I had basted the whole thing. I mention this partly because I know better and was impatient to get the thing done, but also as a note-to-self for any future quilting.
Lastly, the recommended quilting lines are way too close for the size of the quilt. It took a lot of shifting and balancing, machine wrestling, and too many hours of frustration to sew all the layers. The finished blanket was 54x72. Imagine rolling up over 50” of layered fabric and pushing it through the arm of your standard sized sewing machine. It was a workout to say the least. The quilting patterned looked really nice when it was finished, but it would have been just as effective if the lines were 3-4” apart rather than 1-2”.
For my first quilt I am really happy with the results – the fabrics were so bold but looked really beautiful with each other (even though some of them definitely competed for your attention) and the detail of the quilting pattern worked out well to balance the prints.
My next quilt (barring any other friends from this group getting married in the next two years) will most likely be for my aunt and uncle for their 25th anniversary. While I was finishing K’s quilt at my grandparents’, my uncle ever so nicely asked for one and topped off the request with a sweet, “Have I ever asked you for anything?” I’m still planning out what that will look like, but I have at least two years to work on it, so I’ll add it to my to do list. And as it’s been two months since I finished the quilt, the urge to craft has hit me in the last couple of weeks and thrown me into a crochet and sewing binge. I’m hoping to get a few more projects done in the next two weeks and be able to check them off!
Second, the construction of the quilt would have been much easier and smoother if I had basted the whole thing rather than only pinning it. The large safety pins definitely held it together well, but it would have been much sturdier if I had basted the whole thing. I mention this partly because I know better and was impatient to get the thing done, but also as a note-to-self for any future quilting.
Lastly, the recommended quilting lines are way too close for the size of the quilt. It took a lot of shifting and balancing, machine wrestling, and too many hours of frustration to sew all the layers. The finished blanket was 54x72. Imagine rolling up over 50” of layered fabric and pushing it through the arm of your standard sized sewing machine. It was a workout to say the least. The quilting patterned looked really nice when it was finished, but it would have been just as effective if the lines were 3-4” apart rather than 1-2”.
For my first quilt I am really happy with the results – the fabrics were so bold but looked really beautiful with each other (even though some of them definitely competed for your attention) and the detail of the quilting pattern worked out well to balance the prints.
My next quilt (barring any other friends from this group getting married in the next two years) will most likely be for my aunt and uncle for their 25th anniversary. While I was finishing K’s quilt at my grandparents’, my uncle ever so nicely asked for one and topped off the request with a sweet, “Have I ever asked you for anything?” I’m still planning out what that will look like, but I have at least two years to work on it, so I’ll add it to my to do list. And as it’s been two months since I finished the quilt, the urge to craft has hit me in the last couple of weeks and thrown me into a crochet and sewing binge. I’m hoping to get a few more projects done in the next two weeks and be able to check them off!
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