Sunday, 7 April 2013

Rainbow Quilt... Part IV... Complete!




It's finished and I am proud to show you the last stage of the making of my Rainbow Quilt!

First off, after finishing the formation of the quilt, I used my organic cotton batting and some REALLY fluffy (not organic) wadding. I created a batting-wadding-batting sandwich and then placed my front and back onto the sarnie. At this point I would just like to confirm that buying organic is really worth the extra cash, its luxurious and chemical free. I just couldn't source any organic wadding that would arrive in time, so I used some standard wadding from my local (and only) fabric shop I have available to me here in the West of Ireland.




When I had pinned everything together... I made, by hand, my own bias tape. I wanted to make 60mm bias tape, no bias tape maker goes up to that size, so I sat and made my own. Firstly I cut 12 cm strips, ironed them in half and then, like folding a letter... I pinned the bias together. Ironing as I went. It took some time and was a pain to do, but this is exactly the size I wanted- so worth it, ultimately.



I then pinned as I went, bevelling at the corners as I went. This bevelling wasn't as bad as I had dreaded and really looked the part, proper quilting techniques on show...



Then, with a deep intake of breath, I sewed it all together, ensuring that underneath of the bias tape was being caught as I went, which it was... yay.



I struggled with the tension of my Toyota; it seems to decide to change the tension randomly as I went along. I stopped, unpicked and re-sewed, however it did it again. In the end, I went with the flow of the tension changes and promised myself that when I get a new machine, I will go back and sort this out. It's actually not that bad at all; I just can't get it perfect which I always strive for. 

So here we are... this is my finished quilt! I am so happy with the finished size, colours and how the Klona Tan bias tape (and I also used this for the backing) has complimented the white and every shade of the spectrum of this quilt. 



The finished measurements are 110cm x 110 cm. Little lady can happily be crawling on, dribbling into and cuddling this quilt until she is well over to be saying 'I don't like it' (!)

So, Rainbow Quilt... done! I am really happy with the resources that I had available to me:

The Sewing Book by Alison Smith
The Ultimate Quilting Bible by Marie Clayton 

.... my book recommendations are always on the left of this blog on a slideshow, for your convenience!

Until next time…

Bundana

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