Wedding Quilt

Morning all, I'm writing this from a lovely sunny garden. After such a long snowy winter/spring every sunny day feels like a bit of a gift.

 I wanted to share something that has been just over a year in the making. My wedding quilt. I decided when I got married last year that I didn't want a guest book that would go on some shelf somewhere and just collect dust.

An instagram friend Jocoulson82 gave me the idea to get my guests to sign fabric squares and turn them in to a patchwork quilt. This is the first time I've made a patchwork quilt and I'm so darn pleased with it. It's not my first attempt at patchwork however, I did make a patchwork bag to hold carrier bags. It came out more like crazy paving. I didn't know the idea was precise cutting that made everything line up. 

I did start off trying all sorts of fancy stitches bit of satin here and there but by the end it was all back stitch. Especially with some of my friends with small tight handwriting.

I had intended to quilt it all together as one however the very helpful lady at my local quilt shop Patchwork Parade suggested I quilt it in sections. She felt that as a beginner it might be a bit much to handle all at once. Never one to ignore the suggestions of someone who knows more than me it's precisely what I did.

I went for a very basic 9 square design to show of the embroidery so it ended up being four 9 squares wide by 6 tall. I was two embroidery squares short so added one for the date and one of the location to go in the bottom two corners.

I quilted them in three pieces of eight 9 squares each. I have never pricked myself so much with one project! Every time I moved my hand STAB!

I just went for basic stitching in the ditch to quilt it. I say I stitched in the ditch, it was more like stitch in the general vicinity of the ditch. Usually any little flaw would really annoy me but I'm so chuffed with how this turned out I really don't mind. I like that it makes it look homemade.

I used extra wide backing which was just every so slightly not enough to cover the whole back. Fortunately I'd bought a little 1/4 meter piece of sewing machine fabric so made this a pieced section and totally intentional....

This one is a spread sheet because my husband is an accountant and it's a reference to his wedding speech.

I've been hoarding scraps from projects for a few years now with the intention to make a quilt and I think this has given me the confidence to tip over the edge of making it happen. Sometimes all you need is to be able to picture in your head how each step will go.

Testing testing

If you're a seamstress/sewist sat with your fingers in your ears and a rather fetching eye mask on you may not have noticed a trend for dungarees; whether it's Tilly and the Buttons' Cleo, Closet Case Files' Jenny or By Gum by Golly's self drafted pair.

Personally they're not something I had ever considered for myself thinking they'd look a bit childish on me. It's funny really considering dungarees were originally work wear but they're something I always associate with children who frankly look adorable in a pair.

Jen at Jennifer Lauren Handmade's take on it is the Pippi pattern which I was lucky to be a tester for. I quite like that she doesn't tell you a large amount about the pattern before you sign up to test them so you get what you're given and see what you can create. It stops my preconceptions and lets me see what I can do.

It ended up that I really liked the pattern. So judgey Humbug should just shut her mouth. I went for the size 20 C cup. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate a pattern with different cup sizes. I hate doing a FBA so have it all right there is fabulous. I love the lines of the streamlined skirt and the pleats with the large pockets. I went for purple needle cord as I happened to have some knocking about. I cursed this decision when turning the straps believe me! You know what makes turning a tube tricky? Friction. You know what needlecord has loads of? Friction!

As it's me there can't be something I didn't make a hash of. With this project it's that I made the hole to put the jeans buttons through much too big so they now pop straight through the fabric. I'm going to reinforce the holes with some off cuts and stitch some buttons on. No one will know....other than the people I insist on pointing the flaws out to. Which is everyone.

Jen had some issues with the fitting of the bib as you can see in the picture below which causes it to gap at the sides. She did actually amend this problem but because I'd already got the pattern pieces cut out I opted to go with the original. It does make my eye twitch to look at it so I'm going to unpick this bodice and re-cut the amended one. Should have just done that in the first place really. Quiet Captain Shoulda, you don't know my learning methods!

So I would recommend if you get the chance to pattern test for Jen (she just closed sign ups for new testers but keep an eye out in future) I would recommend giving it a go. If like me you tend to stick to comfort zones it pushes you to try something new plus she's a safe pair of hands as I haven't seen a duff pattern from her.

Now I'm off to enjoy the unprecedented warm weather for an English bank holiday. Take care xXx