Wednesday 11 March 2020

2020 Wk 11 - what I made and what I learned

Richmond and Kew quilters has a challenge that started a few months ago - we were given a random animal “pin” badge and were challenged to make an A3 quilt inspired by the pin.

I got a stag: a beautiful beast that we can sometimes see with a herd of deer in Windsor Great Park which is a few miles away.  The park isn’t very distinctive but it incorporates The Long Walk which is very distinctive.  I designed the castle for the embroidery machine to stitch (in two hoopings, that was fun to match up) then added the start of the Great Walk and the trees.  I did try machine stitching the trees but decided to hand stitch instead ...

And here is the ready-apart-from-binding result

My other sewing this week was close to (are you sitting down?) dressmaking.  I had a sweatshirt that was too short.  I bought some extra red fabric and replaced the lower 8 inches of grey with 14 inches or so of red.  I’m rather chuffed with the result

However it’s not perfect and I have learned quite a bit ...

I learned that rather than zigzagging the hem then stitching it down it would have been better to find a double needle and top stitch that way - it would have saved time and would have stopped the hem edge flipping out.

I learnt that it worked well to join the raw edges about 1/2” from the edge, zigzag the raw edges and then top stitch the seam alliance down

And I learnt that sweatshirt fabric has selvedge edges - doh! 🤦🏼‍♀️  I’ll do better next time!

5 comments:

  1. I love your ‘long walk’. A wonderful array of greens for the trees. Great job with the sweatshirt too

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  2. Your long walk quilt is spectacular. I love the castle and combination of machine and hand stitching and it's the perfect setting for your stag. Also, congrats on your sweatshirt makeover. It sounds like it was very tricky to do but it looks great :)

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  3. Wow, a wonderful quilt Benta! Your castle and woods are amazing!
    That challenge was a clever idea!
    You did a great job on the sweatshirt too!
    Hugs,
    Barbara xx

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  4. All looking fab as ever Benta. Prosaic stitching for me today as I replaced the elastic in my shower cap!

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  5. Good work on the sweatshirt - but truly beautiful work on your A3 challenge quilt! What a lovely setting for your stag! xx

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