Along with millions of other sewers, I watched this year’s Great British Sewing Bee, and what can I say… the week with the Quilted Jacket!!!! Yes Please!
So the idea I had was to make quilted pattern pieces with all the scraps from all the clothes and gifts I’ve made over the last few years. A true stash buster.
A pattern was purchased from Etsy. It was specifically for using existing quilts… I mean… the horror, however I decided to make the pieces for the jacket because I’m not a heathen.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun making the initial blocks, but as ever, my over-enthusiasm to get on with things had me not following my mum’s rules on How to Baste a Quilt and I didn’t tape it to the floor, stretch it out and pin before basting with thread after…. the shame!
Anyway, the upshot of not properly securing the fabric to the floor and basting it is that it’s puffy, it’s fine, it’s “homemade” but I could have kicked myself too because if I’d slowed down, it would have been more polished.
The fabric requirements given were for one big sheet, but looking at the cutting diagram that was going to leave me with a lot of wastage, so instead I measured each pattern piece and worked out (badly) how many blocks I needed.
In the end I used some squares I wasn’t 100% keen on simply because I thought I was going to need more than I ended up needing. Another shout out for things you can do with high school maths if you’re not a numpty… anyway. I probably wouldn’t have used the very strong blue blocks however, who knows if it would have felt the same without the splash of bright colour?
I discovered as well with my light stitch in the ditch quilting, the fabric was still quite thick, and I struggled with accuracy in putting a collar on, so in the end it’s a wrap around with a rounded neck and no collar or button plaquette. (Joys of being pear shaped, too big on top and just right on the bottom), Not only did I not want to fanny around putting the folded plaques together and through the machine even with walking foot, but I wasn’t going to be able to button it properly because of the sizing issue.
I think I’m going to basic sashiko stitch over the jacket, but although I’ve started that’s a long term commitment I fear! It looks really pulled together with the stitching I’ve done so far, but I’m having to wear rubber grips to pull the needle through such thick fabric!
Gloamingology 