Quilt "finishing"

>> Friday, August 29, 2008

The update on my quilt is that I've finally finished hand quilting the entire thing, but now I'm planning to add double the number of rows. There are diagonal lines of stitching through each full square, but I'm going to add extra rows so that each full square has an "X" in it.

In the meantime I decided to bind the edges so that while I'm working on it there's no risk of the quilt top pulling apart at the seams. Also it's satisfying to see it looking more finished.
So I have a tip for a binding without bias tape or anything else. I'm not sure how to reference this, but basically I just saw some quilters on tv doing this on their historical quilts. The only difference is that their quilts were much loftier, and their borders were bigger.

This is the view of the underside - there's no seam!

So what you do is use the bottom panel of fabric for the binding. Fold it up and over the top and hem it in place with mitred corners. Mine is about 3/8" wide. I decided to stitch it in place by hand as I knew I would never be happy with a machine-sewn finish and besides I had already gone to the trouble of hand quilting. I knew it might pucker or something and I'd just spend more time picking it out.

Of course you only need to stitch the top side, I used an invisible stitch.

Here's a close-up of one of the mitred corners:While I was trying to figure out how to hand quilt I found this helpful tutorial on youtube. I love that people take the time to make these movies to explain things.

And while I was at youtube I found these wonderful vintage Singer commercials: She Caught on Quick, Three Smart Daughters and this one from 1956-8. My favourite line: "Of course I want a Singer, who doesn't?"

17 comments:

LeeAnn August 29, 2008  

Wow! Neat-o! It turned out beautifully!

Anonymous,  August 29, 2008  

So beautiful!! Wow :o) I love it. I have never seen a quilt bound like that before. The blue and white are such a pure, pretty, simple combination. I'm captivated!

Anonymous,  August 30, 2008  

I love this quilt. It is so fresh and springy looking!
Beautiful job!!!!

Rebecca August 30, 2008  

your quilt is so delightful. i'm impressed you handquilted it all. did you mark the lines before quilting? if so, what did you use? i've seen that binding method before; it's that only way i knew how to bind a quilt until recently. always good to learn a new technique

Claire Louise Milne August 30, 2008  

Thanks for the comments!

Rebecca, I did mark the lines with regular pencil. I just did it lightly and you can barely see it. I marked each line just before doing it so that if the pencil marks faded it would be ok.

Anonymous,  August 30, 2008  

ha! that's how i bind my quilts! how funny that you do it like that too.i couldn't be bothered (nor did i have the actual binding) to do it the 'proper' way. lovely work claire. the colour combo is excellent

meg August 30, 2008  

I'm just about to start my first hand quilting project (just a little baby blanket) and that video is super helpful. Your quilt is absolutely beautiful! You should be proud.

Nanette Merrill August 30, 2008  

It is so beautiful. What is your plain fabric? Is it white or a little gray? I can't figure out what kind of fabric it is. Would you mind telling me what the name of the fabric is. I love the simplicty of it. It is just stunning. There is nothing like a white or neutral with a 1 color block - with scrap for the blue. I just simploy love it.

Natalie, the Chickenblogger August 31, 2008  

It's a beautiful quilt. So pretty and soothing.
I finished a quilt with the backing and was concerned about the durability, but it's been four years, with frequent use, and it looks as nice as ever!

Eileen September 01, 2008  

I really love the colors in this quilt. And your hand quilting is beautiful. It looks like you are getting between 8 and 9 stitches per inch..? I'm looking forard to seeing it with the added rows. Are you using a frame?

Claire Louise Milne September 02, 2008  

Thanks for your comment!
I started out with 6/inch but near the end it was 8-9 per inch. A lot of the rows are 7! I found that was the best I could do given that the cotton batting was a bit dense (as opposed to wool I've heard) and the backing was a sheet with a fairly high thread count. I decided not to use a frame, but had basted it a LOT so that really helped prevent any shifting.
I had a peek at your blog, your quilt is so pretty! I love how they will use up scraps from your stash, I have so many.

Unknown September 02, 2008  

What a gorgeous quilt! I just love the colors you have selected and all that hand stitching makes it incredibly special!

Anonymous,  September 07, 2008  

hooray! it just keeps getting better. i'm hoping i'll get another glimpse of it in person one of these days!

Anonymous,  September 08, 2008  

Gorgeous!

Johanna Masko September 09, 2008  

Claire!! The quilt is absolutely gorgeous!!! Well Done!!

So... got your next one planned? :-)

Claire Louise Milne September 09, 2008  

Johanna, I can't decide! I have the vintage fan quilt pattern but I really love the "single girl" quilt. I guess... both?

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments!

  © Blogger template Simple n' Sweet by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009

Back to TOP