Tuesday 11 February 2014

Blue quilt finally finished!!!

I am so pleased with this quilt, it makes me smile and resonates with lots of inspirations - Gees bend quilters, blue crockery, piles of books......I ummed and arrred about including the tiny splashes of velvets and I came down on the 'just do it' side - I particularly like the rich textures that they bring to the overall design and I also love the contrast with the denim - a luxury fabric right next door to a real work wear material.
I also experimented with the actual quilting, I wanted to try something different from my standard button technique. I recently seen a photograph of large running stitch used as a decorative feature on a coat and decided to try it on my quilt to fix the denim panels in place. I chose several different coloured embroidery threads to add interest and set to. It was a very pleasing process and one that developed quickly, it is always a good thing at this stage of quilt making in my opinion. I felt that this running stitch technique might be a little clunky for the more detailed central panel of the quilt and opted for stitching in the ditch, ie back stitching in the seams so that it is invisible but does the job.
I used a chopped up duvet cover for the backing, courtesy of Ebay a real bargain, choosing a fine blue striped design. I wrap the back over to the front double thickness, to seal the edges and then machine top stitch, the stripes create a pleasing extra detail.

Now what next......

The finished quilt. on it's side, it should fit a wide single
with the denim panels draping down on either side
Detail showing the large running stitch technique
and the variety of denims used
Love that splash of lime green crushed velvet
and those tiny stripes in amongst the denim
More denim details complete with pockets and seams

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