Baby Quilt Backings – Microfleece

December 14, 2013

Ever have what you think is a brilliant idea that definitely doesn’t work when it comes time to execute?

Well, that happened to me on a recent project involving backing fabric for a baby quilt.  The quilt top incorporated fussy cuts of different fleece fabrics the customer had supplied.  I thought it would be a great idea to use the leftover fleece as the backing fabric.  WRONG!  So, on to Plan B.

Due to a tight deadline, I had to shop my stash to come up with alternatives for the customer. She settled on a dark blue micro-fleece.  It’s a double-layer soft fleece that almost resembles velour.  It felt wonderful to my hand;  however it was reputed to be a true PITA to sew because it stretches so much.

I am happy to report that the micro-fleece sewed like a dream with only minimal stretching.  How’d I do that?

Machine:  Janome 6600

Stitch:  Straight,  3.0 length
Foot:  Accufeed/walking foot with open toe
Foot pressure setting:  #2 (I reduced the pressure by one number)
Needle:  70/10 or 80/12 Microtex
Thread:  Coats & Clark cotton covered polyester 35 weight machine quilting thread
Batting:  Quilter’s Dream 70/30 batting

I was also able to machine stitch the binding using the little Clover clips rather than my normal glue basting method.   No mess and no sticky fingers!

Perhaps the stars were in alignment, but this combination worked so well, I wrote the settings in the little notebook I keep by my sewing machine.  This little fleece is more expensive than the standard fleece you find in the stores, so I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a sale.  I will definitely use this with other baby quilts.

 

 

 

Stitchy woman

December 11, 2013

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth…

I’ve been busy finishing up customer Christmas gifts.  I know the recipients will LOVE their quilts.

Everything will be delivered/shipped by Saturday a.m., so I can enjoy at least one weekend before the Christmas craziness to get some presents bought.

To the folks who followed a FB share here hoping to see pictures of a mosaic t-shirt pillow – I apologize.  After that FB share, the recipient’s mom asked me to take the blog post down so things could remain a surprise (she’s got 4 other kids, all of whom have seen the pillows so good luck with that my friend! :-)). Blog posts and pictures are coming after Christmas, I promise!

All Mixed Up (mosaic style) pillows made from t-shirts

December 3, 2013

All Mixed Up (mosaic style) pillows made from t-shirts

It all started with a pile of t-shirts and a picture on Pinterest.

Missy asked if I could make two big (20″) pillows for her daughter from old cheerleading t-shirts that she’d collected over the years.  She wanted them in a mosaic style and showed me a picture of a quilt online that she liked.  Sure, I was game.  I’d never made a t-shirt quilt quite like this, but I was willing to experiment with some pillows for a Christmas present.

As I’ve said before, my co-workers and friends think I can do almost anything when it involves a sewing machine.  It seems I get one project a year that stretches my limits.  Cynthia…Megan…and now Missy.

Well, the pile of old t-shirts was E-N-O-R-M-O-U-S.  I now have a full-size quilt top sandwiched and ready for quilting.  I start on that tomorrow night once we discuss the quilting design (all over meander or individual block quilting).  Will post a picture of the quilt and write-up of the my experience making this type of quilt after Christmas.

In case you were wondering, yes, the daughter is a Georgia Tech cheerleader.