Blaire Top

My first Blaire Top

This is the Blaire Top, a Style Arc pattern. The fabric is a cotton Ikat purchased three summers ago from Ginny's Fine Fabrics in Rochester, MN.  Since the style of the shirt was boxy and not form-fitting, I cut a size 10 and hoped that it would be loose enough.

Inspired by the sample, I cut the stripes going one way at the top and perpendicular on the bottom

The button placket and collar pieces got iron-on interfacing

The directions for putting this shirt together would have been frustrating for me if this was the first shirt with a collar and buttons I had put together. The diagrams for the collar were helpful though and I like the suggestion for top-stitching.

Collar with top-stitching

The sleeve cuffs on this shirt took me a fair amount of time to put together, but I really like how they turned out.

Finished sleeve cuff

Following a suggestion I read on anther blog somewhere, I hemmed both the skirt and overlay before attaching them to the top of the shirt. I serged the bottom and then folded it under 3/8". This fabric handled the tighter curves well, but I could see where another fabric may bunch up or stretch in those curved areas.

Hem serged and turned under

Over lay and skirt with hem

This fabric frayed easily and I ended up finishing almost all of the seams with the serger.

Frayed edges before it gets sewn onto the bodice 

Button plackets sewn on before the collar

The first time I sewed the collar on it fit beautifully, but I mistakenly put it on the inside of the shirt.  After taking that out and making a second attempt, the collar finished well.  Since the seams are only 1/4" here, I was not able to serge them and I do worry about wear/fraying over time.

Perpendicular stripes on the back

I was very nervous about adding buttonholes. I have only done this on a couple shirts before and I am still gaining confidence in this arena. For this shirt I decided I wanted to try a new-to-me buttonholer on my Singer 201. The rest of this shirt was sewn using my Bernina 1230, but I wanted to try something else for the buttonholes. I read the instruction manual that came with the buttonholer and then watched a couple videos online on how to set it up. For the most part, things went smoothly and I liked the sound the buttonholer made as it was working. It's a very satisfying clacking noise. Before attempting any buttonholes on the actual shirt I completed several practice ones and then very carefully marked the placement for the holes on my shirt. The buttons were centered on the placket between the purple threads in the picture below. Each hole was made with three passes of the buttonholer.

Marking for button placement

I chose to put on 6 of the 7 suggested buttons

Buttonholes look fantastic.  I will definitely use the 201 for buttons again. When I tried on the shirt, I noticed that the collar fit too tight if I buttoned it. Since I would never choose to wear it buttoned up that far anyway, I opted not to add the button at the top.

There is no button at the collar

Headed out to the garden for some finished project pictures.

 I am pleased with my fabric choice for this shirt. Both the color/pattern and the weight of the fabric worked well for a summer top.

Shirt hangs well, could do with a little pressing though

Keep an upright posture so that belly doesn't show

When I make this shirt again, I will add 1 1/2 - 2 inches to the length. I know it is not designed to hang low, but I do not need to be showing skin every time I lean over or turn sideways. For pictures, I had to make sure the top of my jeans at least met the bottom of the shirt.

The sleeve cuffs and side underlay are such fun details

I had fun putting this top together and if I had a suitable fabric for the dress version I'd start in on that now. There's nothing, in particular, calling out from my stash to be made into a dress now though so I'll move on to the next project in the queue.

Lime-Teal Quilt Part 2: A Walking Foot and A Finished Quilt

Shining in the sun 

Mom and I were still in Golconda, IL when this quilt top was finished and ready to be quilted. On a day trip to Paducah, KY, I picked up some batting and backing from Hancock's of Paducah. The backing was a batik that I picked up from the remnant table. Due to some poor math on my part I thought I had plenty of fabric for the backing, but it turns out I was a bit short and ended up piecing some extra polka-dot fabric onto the backing as well. Not a problem, this quilt is all about using fabric scraps and piecing things together as needed.

Layers ready to be basted

Quilt is basted

In choosing a pattern for the quilting, I was looking for something that could be done by machine and would not compete with the blocks. This is a lot going on visually with the fabric and variety of blocks designs in this quilt and I wanted quilting that would add some texture but wouldn't demand attention. There are also quite a few seams on this quilt and some very small pieces in the blocks, so I didn't want to add heavy quilting. Mom suggested fans and we set about making a template. There was no paper at the house and we had no pencil or pen, so mom used some leftover fabric from the backing and her chalk marking tool to draw out the fan template.

Mom sketching out a fan stencil

This will be the largest fan and then I will add fans with 1" spacing inside it

Along with a visit to Hancock's of Paducah, mom and I visited the National Quilt Museum and another quilt/fabric shop. It was at that shop that I purchased a walking foot for my Bernina 730 Record. We had a bit of trouble finding one that would work with the old style prongs of the 730 feet, but eventually they found one in the back room.  We tried it out on a Bernina 830 Record that they had in the shop and it worked so we were confident it would fit the 730 as well. I had never sewn with a walking foot before, this was my first project with it.

Bernina walking foot and accessories

When I got home from Golconda, I set up my machine with the walking foot on the dining room table. This gave me plenty of table space to layout the quilt.

Using cats as fabric weights slows quilting progress

I need constant supervision

New to me walking foot

The walking foot worked well, and I improved in my skills of changing direction in my sewing and keeping keeping the material flowing through the machine at a constant rate. It was easy to forget about the fabric bunching up under the sewing machine arm and then movement along the curved fans was impeded. If anyone looks closely at the stitches they will know that it was done by a beginner, but again, the focus for this quilt is on the variety of blocks and not the quilting. I learned a lot using the walking foot this time, and I know that I will continue to improve with the next project.

When it came to adding the binding, I was worried that I didn't have enough of the solid teal. I entertained the idea of piecing the binding from quilt scraps, but I really wanted to try to have a uniform binding so I cut what was left of my teal fabric into strips and crossed my fingers.  The binding strips were sewn together and then added to the quilt using my Bernina 717. This machine sits in its own table and while the workspace is smaller, it's difficult for a cat to share the space.

Sewing on the binding

Once the binding was on though, I moved back to the dining room table so that I could finish sewing by hand. Again, I had my handy fabric weights.

Here's a peek at the batik backing

The last steps were to sign the back of the quilt and to add a sleeve so that the quilt could hang on the wall. The finished size is 54" square. I probably feel this way every time I finish a quilt, but this one is my current favorite. I love that my mom and sisters and I all contributed to the design and construction of this one-of-a kind artwork.    

Hanging on wall

Hanging on fence

Finishing A Red, White, and Blue Miniature Quilt

Pieced a few years ago, time to finish the project

This quilt was actually finished last year, but I didn't get it posted until now. The red, white, and blue colors are  timely now.  There are some pretty small scraps of fabric in this quilt. The center of the log cabin block is only 3/8 inches square and the finished quilt is 19 inches on each side. 

Sketching out the quilting

This quilt wanted to be hand quilted, but I wanted to avoid quilting the actual log cabin blocks. The piecing seams were close together and did not need any quilting. I looked for patterns that would fill in the sashing.  The one I landed on is a combination of a couple samples I saw.

Hand quilting started in the corner

I used my 17" quick snap quilt frame to support the quilt, and with that I was able to work indoors and outdoors when weather permitted.

Sewing on binding and trimming excess fabric

The binding was pieced and attached with a machine, but it was then finished by hand.  All of the binding fabrics are from leftover reds in the quilt.

Binding

Finished quilt

The only thing left to do is attach a sleeve on the back for hanging.

Close up

Hanging out in the garden

Golconda Pinwheel Quilt: A Guest Post by Linda Kluss

Scrappy pinwheel quilt

The owner of this blog has a partner in many of her fiber pursuits. She is my daughter, and we both love to figure out sewing and quilting projects. Last week we took our annual “school-is-out-for-the-summer” trip, this time to southern Illinois. We have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, we've done mountain trails in Alaska, and this time we chose the serenity of an old lockmaster's house near Golconda on the Ohio River. It was really hot, so we split our time between hiking in the Shawnee National Forest and sewing in our little house on the river. Perfect!

Ohio River in the background

Quilting in the lockmaster's house

I have a number of unquilted tops waiting their turn, so for this trip I chose a little pinwheel doll quilt or wallhanging (haven't decided which) to finish. Some very sensible quilters do not keep tiny fabric scraps, understanding that doing so can quickly cause stashes to grow out of control. I'm not very sensible in this regard, but I do love to make scrap quilts. The fabrics themselves are a visual reminder of past projects, and I love that. It's also just easier to cut little pieces from a little basket of scraps rather than sort through piles of yardage. A complete pinwheel here finishes at 4”, so the two-color squares are each 2” finished. Simple and soothing.

Basted and ready for quilting

Taking a break with a walk by the river

Finishing the binding

The hand quilting went quickly, the little quilt is bound and ready for use, so here is the Golconda Pinwheel.

All the garden colors are in this quilt

Lime-Teal Quilt Part 1: Piecing

The fabric was bought at the end of January 2018. I was finishing up the orange binding on another quilt and this fabric followed me home.

Orange fabric hidden among the pile of new fabric

I started by making pinwheels.  Originally, I was thinking I'd make a full size quilt of all pinwheels.

These colors are not ones I typically work with, but they say spring to me

Blocks finish to 10 inch squares

After piecing 12 blocks, I decided to make a wall hanging instead of a full size quilt.

Pinwheels have been pieced

I planned to do a 3 inch sashing between the blocks and to make that sashing out of an assortment of pieced blocks. I looked online for inspiration and found many suggestions for 3" blocks and others that I could modify to a finish at 3". Some blocks were made in pairs or groups and some were singles. This was a good way to use up scraps leftover from cutting the pinwheels.

Sailboats

Churndash

Log Cabin

Flying Geese

Star

One inch squares

Slowly the sashing came together.

I start filling in the spaces

Lainie prefers this layout

Eventually, Lainie and I agreed on a layout and the sashing got sewn together. I love that there is so much going on here. The eye keeps moving to try to take it all in. 

Pinwheels with sashing

In May, my sisters and I spent a long weekend in Duluth Minnesota.  After piecing a wall hanging for my sister, we spent some time making blocks for the border of this quilt.  I brought my Bernina 730 Record and it sewed beautifully for three days.

Duluth, May 2018

Blocks that my sisters made

Given free reign to design any block they wanted to, my sisters came up with some creative styles.  No scrap of fabric was too small and no pattern was off limits. In a few hours one day, we put together enough blocks for about a side and a half of the border.  Then about a month later, mom and I headed down to Golconda, IL for a long weekend and we finished up the rest of the blocks for the border. Two sewing weekends with my family this spring--that was fantastic!

3 sides done in Golconda, IL

Mom cut all the pieces for the remaining blocks and I sewed on my Bernina 730.  

Picture is a bit dark, but you can see most of quilt

There are about a million tiny pieces in this quilt top and I'm glad I didn't have to cut each one myself. This will be one of my favorites to look at though because I can find so many blocks that I didn't make myself. This was a group effort by the Kluss ladies.  

Quilt with Ohio River in the background

 Now, on to the basting and quilting.  Will this be a quilt that gets completed in 2018?