But I had a little moment in between commissions and thought I’d pick up and work on the next block in the book …. the ‘Streak O Lightning’ …

Triangles, huh? I haven’t done a huge amount of triangles before, so it had an added bonus of being a fun way to expand my repertoire of blocks …. some, I guess, will eventually become quilts, some may not. But I thought that this one would be ideally suited to make up into  patchwork cushions, maybe with a little quilting …

I like this pattern …. it really deceives the eye, so that it appears you’re looking at strips in a chevron pattern, not triangles ….

and it madeup into a pretty cool cushion, too …. I do love the combination of old denim with the fresh floral vintage cotton …..

So, while I was playing with triangles, I thought I’d go off topic a little and make up another block …. this one isn’t in the book, but I couldn’t resist some Flying Geese ….

Even though the dark olive of the recycled jeans picks up on the leaves in that vintage floral, I wasn’t, initially, convinced that is was right – I worried that it was too dark ….

….. but the more I did, the more I liked …. on the back I’ve run a strip of the floral across, and those vintage pink buttons really go ‘pow’!

and once it was quilted, and all plump and gorgeous with its cushion inside, I really fell for it

I was having so much fun at this point, that I thought ‘why not do another one’? Why not? So I did!

A star, this time …. very classic, and in pretty fresh pinks …. an outbreak of girly that the littlest nestling wholeheartedly approved.

I loved the strip across the back in the previous cushion, so I did the same here ….

Three buttons to finish this time! I love the green one in the middle ….

so I put another little purple one in the middle ….

And then there were three patchwork cushions …. all looking very pretty in the sunshine

But I think they would like a home of their own …. they’re sitting pretty in my Etsy shop now (or, of course, I could make one up especially for you, in your choice of colours or using a small selection of your own precious clothes – do get in touch!!)

Patchwork cushions – triangle block variations

I thought today I’d share a recent commission for a baby keepsake memory quilt ….

It all starts with a pile of of gorgeously soft, bright and tiny baby clothes …. and there is always that ‘deep breath’ moment before I start, when I look and touch and know that these are not just clothes, but memories, incredibly precious memories, that I have been trusted with. It is a moment to accept the responsibility, but also one of great joy.

And so, I begin …. to carefully take everything apart, iron, interface and prepare the squares for piecing ….

Until I have enough piecces for the quilt, and have captured the little embroidered and appliqued details from the clothes …. sometimes it works naturally with my piece size, sometimes I need to double up ….

And so, the next phase …. because I was working with so many different colours and patterns, I wanted to make sure I was happy with the layout …. it’s just not like working to a pattern, or with a limited fabric palette as I would for a more conventional quilt …. so I lay them all out onto a white sheet and pin them in place when I’m happy ….

This quilt was for a little boy, so I liked the idea of the merest suggestion of a union jack design, using the red and dark blue, then slotting in the large pieces and balancing out the colours …. and the patterns …. I will admit I got a bit obsessive about the direction of stripes at this point …. but it’s so worth taking the time to get it right ….

And so to the piecing …. it takes a while to stitch together a cot-bed size quilt when you’re working in 4″ square multiples ….

But patience and perserverance pay off ….

Just a few little details to applique on, and the embroidery of the name and date of birth in the centre, and we’re ready to quilt ….

Backing for this one was a bit of a departure for me …. I usually use either hemp fleece or a  vintage flanellette sheet for backing, but this called for something a bit brighter, bolder and heavier …. so we settled on a beautiful piece of royal blue corduroy … and very simple in-the-ditch quilting …

Very nice …

If I say so myself …

Ready for stories, cuddles, and snuggling up …. and some ‘secret’ pockets in there too. I just hope they don’t get used for storing frogs, snails and puppy dog tales ….

Baby Keepsake Memory Quilt

So …. deconstructing t-shirts, tutorial ……

I’ll get this bit out of the way early on …. yes, it is perfectly possible just to cut squares without first taking the t-shirt apart, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I do this if there is a large motif on the front that I want to include – often playing with the size of my square – so, for example, if I’m piecing 4″ squares and I have a large motif that’s going to be bigger than that, then I’ll cut a piece that’s, for example, 4×8″ or even 8×8″ …. as I did here ….

(I’ll talk more about vilene later).

…. but when I make my keepsake quilts, I try to use as much of the fabric as possible, and get as many squares out of each garment as possible – deconstructing the t-shirt before you start cutting squares for piecing can make the difference between getting 4 squares out of the t-shirt and 6 or even 8 …. which makes it easier to build a pattern in your quilt when you come to piece them.

So, to start …. you will need ….. scissors, seam-ripper, a quilt square (a ruler and set-square are fine too), a fabric marking pencil or pen (I tend to use regular drawing pencils for this – they don’t fade like tailors chalk, and they wash out easily) and a medium-weight vilene (or other iron-on fusible interfacing). And, obviously, a t-shirt.

I always start at the bottom hem and work my way up …. t-shirts tend to have a lot of overlocking going on, so your seam-ripper is your weapon of choice …

And when I say weapon, I’m not joking – those things HURT if you jab yourself, so I’ll make this *important health and safety announcement*.  Always, always, always point your seam ripper AWAY from your body, and make sure you’re in control of it – it’s better to go slowly and come away without any punctures, than to race along and shred your hands. If you do jab yourself, and (heaven forbid) bleed on your t-shirt, the only way to get the bloodstain out is with saliva (your own, of course!) Moisten a clean cloth with it, and then gently scrub away until it comes off – this works, I promise, as long as you don’t let the blood dry.

OK, onwards ….

Slide your seam ripper under the stitching and gently but firmly push it along the line of stitches …. you’ll need to hold the fabric taut with one hand, and rip with the other. Keep the sharp edge on top, otherwise it could slide into the fabric and rip it ….

Once you’ve gone all the way along the hem, you should be able to gently pull the edges apart. If you’ve missed a couple of stitches, don’t force it, get the seam ripper in again.

Now the bottom hem is done, you can start on the sides …. because these have usually been heavily overlocked, I tend not to bother with the seam ripper, and just cut the seams out with scissors …. I’m cutting along the seam, just above the inner edge of the stitching.

Next, sleeves, collars and cuffs …. get the seam ripper in between and rrrrrrriiiiiiiipppppppppp them up (carefully!) and then pull them apart.

The tedious bit is picking off all the loose threads once you’re done ….

Once you’re done, you should have a t-shirt broken down into its individual pieces …. if you have any motifs on the t-shirt that you’re planning to use, it’s a good idea to pull any old interfacing off the fabric before you use it. Generally, it comes off fairly easily ….. though you may have to be persistent with some.

So far, so good, and no wastage!

Iron the pieces, and then you’re ready to start making your squares (or whatever shape you’re using) ready for quilting ….. this is where the vilene comes in.

T-shirts (and any jersey knit, for that matter) are very stretchy …. so you will need to interface them, or you don’t have a cat in hell’s chance of cutting and sewing square squares ….

Using your quilt square, draw your block pieces onto the vilene first, and cut them out (remembering to leave some seam allowance – I generally work to at least 1cm, preferably 2cm at this stage (they get trimmed back once they’re sewn together)). Now iron your vilene onto your fabric … carefully! I always lay an old towel on the ironing board before I use vilene, and I have a separate iron that I use for this …. even though you’re ironing through a damp cloth, you really don’t want either your iron or your ironing board to get sticky from the adhesive ….

Once the vilene is secure, you can cut out your pieces ….

you can see here that the square is visible on the back, and this becomes your seam line … just line them up and away you go!

With this particular t-shirt, deconstructing it along the seam lines rather than just cutting into it meant that I could take a small block out of the chest area, and preserve the cute motif …. and I got 8 4″ squares out of an age 18month t-shirt.

So there you have it …. I hope you found this useful

Do let me know in the comments …. and if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them …

Deconstructing t-shirts – Tutorial

I liked all the random angles …. but it did need something to hold it all together, so I added batting and backing, and free-motion quilted it in a flowing ‘wisteria leaf’ pattern …..

Trimmed down to 40×40 cm, I had enough of the blue sheet I used to back the quilt left to make an envelope fastening …. and totally cheated by using the existing hem …. the buttons are vintage fabric buttons in a glorious turquoise-y-blue.

And ta-da …. the finished cushion ….. which is now happily residing in its new home in San Diego – I’m guessing it’s a tad warmer than I am!

I really loved the wisteria leaf pattern I used for the quilting …. the silver thread looked especially delicious against that soft blue sheet …

so I got the tiniest bit carried away with it, and used the last of that lovely blue sheet to make another pair of plain blue cushions …. just fabric and quilting ….

And the same on the back, the edges enclosed in a little bit of vintage blue ribbon, and finished off with vintage silvery buttons ….

They are ever-so-very dreamy ….

And really need a boudoir to adorn ….. or a chaise longe in a reading nook …. or somewhere equally tranquil …..

Can you give them a home? They’re waiting for you in my Etsy store ….

Blue Denim crazy scrap patchwork cushion

to give you a little glimpse of what’s up in the Laundry at the moment …

That rail across the top of our little conservatory (aka my sewing room) is so handy for the s-hook-and-coathanger combination to stop me forgetting all those things I’ve started and not-quite-finished – I seem to have a lot of u-f-o’s (unfinished objects) at the moment, so I’m on a bit of a mission to clear them off the rail …

First up is a little boro piece that I’ve worked vintage watches through …

It’s backed onto burlap which I’ll eventually stretch over a frame, but first I need to finish embroidering a lot of tiny ivy leaves twining in and around the lace …

I might never embroider another ivy leaf again in my life once I’ve finished this!

And then I have another boro piece, this time in blues and denims. It’s part of a sequence of 3 I’ve been working on, all based around the same haiku, with variations on the same sashiko stitching pattern. The first 2 are done and stretched onto frames …

the third was more tricky, because I needed a translation from English into Japanese – thankfully a friend of a friend helped me out, so now I just need to get it stitched on and then stretched onto a frame … I’m nearly there with the stitching, so I’m hoping that can get cleared off the wall this week.

Then there’s my Beekeepers Quilt …. I’m up to 162 hexipuffs now, and stitched them all up to inspire me to carry on with it ….

The colours are so delicious!! But, seeing as I still need another 300-odd to finish it, I think it’s going to take rather longer than a week. I’m trying to knit a puff a day, so in theory it should be another year until it’s done. (gulp!).

The project I’m most involved in at the moment, though, is my ‘Elemental’ quilt – a little boro panel in the centre, surrounded by fairly basic patchwork. It’s been hanging on my wall for a couple of years now, so it’s about time I got it done, I think.

The 4 black panels have all been hand-quilted in gold metal thread, so now all (!) I’ve got left to do is to embroider the 4 corners …. each one will take a different stitch, and possibly different embroidery threads, though I haven’t decided finally on that yet. So, ‘earth’ is done, in the top right – in raised chain band -  and now I’m doing ‘air’ in the top left in straight chain stitch … then fire and water in the bottom corners. The text is square kufic script … it fit with the overall feel of the piece, I thought ….

There is more, waiting my attention, but these are the top of the pile, or the tip of the iceberg …. I hope to be showing you them all done and dusted very soon!

And don’t forget to pop over to Freshly Pieced for more works-in-progress

WIP Wednesday