So, I finished the top of my LOVE quilt. The more I work with it, the more I fall in love with it. I had planned on bringing it with me to visit my grandma, but it was not finished in time, and in retrospect, is a much more complicated project than I appreciated. So... I have a couple of questions, and would love your input. Firstly, what kind of batting do you all use? I can choose from the fuzzy polyester stuff (one layer or two?), a bamboo, or an organic cotton. Secondly, I was thinking of using a solid back as the front is so crazy. Thoughts? My grandma uses sheets for the backs. I was thinking of a bright blue or green. Or, I could buy more cotton and use that... Lastly... I am a terribly quilter. The quilt I am emulating (don't want to say copying!) has hand stitching on it highlighting the letters. I was thinking of stitching in the ditch around the big squares (each square you guys made for me), and then using embroidery thread to loosely stitch on the letters. HELP!!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the coloful added border.
ReplyDeleteHere are my suggestions...
I use Quilters Dream Cotton for the batting, hopefully this link will work: http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/Item--i-W3Q#.UGXu6ZjA_KM
This batting is SO EASY to manipulate (layer) into the "quilt sandwich" and then easy to work with during the quilting process.
I would definitely NOT use black on the back unless it is a black and white print. If you are very new to quilting all of your quilting "mistakes" will show with a solid color. You can get enough good cotton fabric on sale so that buying 4 or 5 yards will not be expensive.
I suggest watching some YouTube videos (especially the ones by Leah Day) for layering advice and stitching. I have learned so much from these Leah Day videos, she has endless amounts of knowledge about all things quilting. The process just takes practice, be sure too that you have a darning foot for your machine. I wish I could spend the day with you Amy! I had to learn all on my own too, and it just takes time. You have such a fabulous quilt top to work on. Email me if there is ANYTHING I can do to help...including a SKYPE session!!
xoJennifer
Oops! I saw your post and replied before bed last night. Somehow I missed that you were going to hand quilt. I know NOTHING about hand quilting so hopefully the information I provided will be more useful later if you decide to machine quilt a piece! ;-)
DeleteJennifer
Wow Amy... it is really breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, I'm almost at the same stage you're at. I will finish off the top this weekend and post a photo from the February 'quilter's palette' square quilt top. I too had the same questions regarding batting and finishing. I think for the batting you want to think about weight... anyway, maybe a joint trip to the quilting store would be worthwhile. And maybe a session trying things out together at each other's machines? Way to go getting it to this point!!
It's fabulous Amy! Wow, wow, wow...!! As I have only ever hand quilted before, I think the rainbow of colours available in DMC No. 8 Perle cotton would add a beautiful effect to your already gorgeous quilt top. It makes sense to me to stitch in the ditch around each LOVE square, or perhaps you could actually just hand quilt this bit and that would be enough? In the past, I've been encouraged to choose only a few dominant colours to highlight when hand quilting. And, yes, love your idea of a bright, solid background.
ReplyDeleteBEAUTIFUL!!!! I love the border too! I use Quilter's Dream or Warm and Natural batting-100% cotton or 80%cotton/20% polyester. When I have used polyester before it has done funky stuff to my machine-no fun. For basting I spray baste all my quilts- this blog was really helpful-
ReplyDeletehttp://chasingcottons.blogspot.com/2011/06/spray-basting-tutorial-with-kristie.html
I have done some reading recently on using sheets as quilt backing-in the past this has been a pretty loudly discussed issue-but from what I have read- using a low thread count (200) and 100% cotton works pretty well. Most people have said to wash it first so it wouldn't shrink too much after quilting.
I think stitching in the ditch would work really well! Handstitching in the letters would look amazing-something I have never tried...
Good luck! The quilt top looks great!
Wow! Amy, it looks awesome! I love the multi coloured border that you added. I think a solid background would be great with the colourful front. I've also generally used Warm and Natural Batting. They have it in rolls at Len's Mills. I used the spray for basting too. I think the hand embroidery detail would look great.
ReplyDeleteThat is a fantastic quilt top, you must be delighted with the result. I don't think I need to add any more advice. I have machine quilted in the ditch and then hand quilted for decoration and the results were great.
ReplyDeleteLinsay.
Amy! This is fantastic!! I especially love the striped border. It really ties the whole thing together. My friend Pat often uses embroidery thread. She uses a bigger needle and sewing bigger stitches than traditional quilting. I think this type of thing would really suit your quilt. You could even sew in a few hearts? The back - I have used flannel before and found it really cozy (a flannel sheet would work too). Note - a plain back will show off the stitching, a patterned back will hide it. Depends on the look you want. Can't wait to see this in person. LOVE.
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