Archive | fabric

Tiny Treasures Basket and Tray in Harriot.

By carolyn friedlander on June 18, 2019 in fabric, Featured on Home, loving, patterns | Comments: 0

The Noodlehead Tiny Treasures Basket and Tray pattern was screaming out to me to get made up in Harriot, and I finally got around to doing it a little while back.

I’ve been wanting to make some of these adorable baskets ever since Anna first made the batch in Euclid. It’s a beautiful shape with some serious fabric (and functional) possibilities.

I wouldn’t say that I was scared to make them, but I did underestimate how easy they are to make. Maybe it’s worrying about having the right notions and interfacing, but it always seemed like a little bit more of a chore than it actually ended up being. When I finally got around to doing it, I wondered what had taken me so long. (Which might be obvious in how I made 5 of them all in one go…)

There are many things I love about this project. First, it’s a very functional make. Who doesn’t have a need for some cute baskets? There are two sizes that can be handy for many different things. They can be useful for you or for someone else if you need to round up a gift.

Second, it’s such a perfect platform for showing off some fabric! Check out the Harriot Scallop in use in this one.

Third, and maybe why I was hesitant, is that this project does require you to incorporate rivets and handles of some type. Prior to these projects, I hadn’t done rivets, and I’ll admit I was a little scared. When I went to add them, I was extremely surprised by how easy they were to install. (I used Anna’s tutorial, which helped a lot. I also tested a rivet on a scrap first.)

As for the straps, I could have planned a little better in this department, but it ended up working out well. I had enough leather and leather-like options for all of them, except for the Scallop basket above. I ended up sewing together some fabric handles, which did the trick! It’s nice to know that that works too.

The fact that I made 5 of them in an afternoon should say something about how easy (and addictive) they are, which I really like.

Since making these, I’ve thrown all kinds of things into the baskets. They’re very handy!

There we have it. My Tiny Treasures Basket and Tray in Harriot.

fabric: Harriot

pattern: Tiny Treasures Basket And Tray (free!) by Noodlehead

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Hunt Quilt Along: A Closer Look At Fabric.

By carolyn friedlander on May 16, 2019 in fabric, Featured on Home, my patterns, Quilt Along, tips and techniques | Comments: 3

Hunt Quilt Along: A Closer Look At Fabric.

This week I want to take a closer look at fabric. I have some tips to share, and I also want to let you in on what I’m thinking about for my own project.

Obviously fabric is a big component of any quilt project. You not only have the color and print to figure out, but you also get to consider the type of fabric itself, whether it’s cotton, linen or anything else.

In general, I consider quilting cotton to be the most beginner-friendly fabric to work with. It’s very stable, and it’s not too thick and not too thin for quilting. (It’s called quilting cotton for a reason.)

Quilting cotton is also great, because it comes in many different colors, prints and solid choices. You can’t go wrong, and it’s definitely a fabric that I would highly recommend to anyone, and especially to anyone new to the game.

Of course there are plenty of other types of fabrics as well. Some other popular quilting choices are made from linen and linen blends (like Robert Kaufman Essex, a stable linen/cotton blend that is a little meatier than regular quilting cotton and full of texture), and there are plenty of yarn dyed wovens (like Harriot Yarn Dyes, shot cottons, etc).

Something to consider when selecting fabrics outside of quilting cotton are the different properties of the fabric itself. You want to consider the stability of it–is it slippery or drapey, OR stiff and sturdy? Also, is it thick or thin? Does it have a tendancy to fray? Most anything can work, but depending on its qualities you might decide to make some adjustments.

Some adjustments might be to –

+ Cut your background to be larger so you can get a clean trim before sewing blocks together if your fabric tends to fray or if you know you tend to handle your blocks a bit more. I cut my background squares about an inch larger on my Hunt Harriot Quilt. It was a new fabric, and I wasn’t sure how it would behave. Giving myself extra ensured I could get a super-clean trim before sewing the blocks together. (Tip: In this case, I like marking the edges of where I’ll trim my actual block. I prefer to thread baste, but you can mark it anyway you prefer.)

Here’s a look at some thread basting in action. I’ve marked my seam allowance at the bottom. (In general, I prefer marking the seam allowance on these blocks this way. It’s totally a personal preference and not mandatory.)

+ Adjust your basting stitch a smidge if your fabric is really thick or really thin. (Tip: With a thin fabric you may baste with slightly less of a seam allowance, and with thicker fabric you might baste with a smidge more of a seam allowance.)

+ Prewash your fabrics if you’re worried with them at all. It never hurts! Plus, I feel like a prewash can reduce some of the fraying.

+ Use your thicker fabrics as a background and thinner fabrics as your appliqué. A thicker fabric on the back gives you more stability. (Although I’ll admit that you can make exceptions if you’re really feeling a combination that goes against these rules. Just make sure your lighter background fabric maintains its shape as the heavier fabric is being manipulated on top. You don’t want this to distort your background.)

Now let’s talk a little bit about some design direction for your project. The beautiful thing about appliqué is how you can quickly get a sense of what your project will look like. Simply cut out the shape and lay it on your background! If you don’t like it, try something else.

That’s exactly what I did when I was planning my Hunt Harriot Quilt. I started cutting out the shapes and laying them on the ground–although you could also start laying them on different background fabric options at this point too. This allowed me to figure out how I wanted the colors, fussy-cut scallops and other motifs to come together. Or you can work on a block-to-block basis. It was really fun to see the idea shape up!

I am planning to make something during this quilt along. I selfishly chose this format, because I knew it would give me a great opportunity to make another version. I’d love to have a quilt for my bed, and after a lot of thinking about colors and fabrics to use, I think that I’ve decided to head in a green and white direction. There are SO many ways to take this project, and it is so easy to feel indecisive about it, but what’s helped decide things for me is thinking about 1) what type/size I want to end up with, and 2) where I want to put it. I think a green/white-ish version for my bedroom would be just the right thing.

I’ll use a mix of whites and creams for the backgrounds.

And I’m thinking a mix of greens in some dark-ish shades like this could be nice. Although I’m not sure how scrappy/not scrappy I want each block to be. Looks like I’ll be doing some auditioning!

That’s where I’m at, but I’d love to know where you’re at too. Feel free to comment below.

Resources:

+ Here’s a link to some of my favorite Thread Tips and Tricks.

+ I’ve set up a Hunt Quilt Along Board on Pinterest for inspiration. Head over here to check it out.

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Architextures Sunrise.

By carolyn friedlander on April 30, 2019 in fabric, Featured on Home, my patterns | Comments: 2

My Architextures Sunrise quilt comes with a bit of an admission. I made it back in 2012 when Architextures first came out. It was displayed in the Architextures booth at Quilt Market that fall, but I never got around to taking pictures of it afterwards–classic. When I was planning the PDF conversion for the design, I knew I wanted to unearth this quilt and give it some time to shine.

I can still remember how much I enjoyed making it. It was one of the first times sewing with my own fabric, and that experience is hard to forget. Because the design works well with 2-1/2″ strips, I used strip sets from my Architextures collection as well as the coordinating solids. This made it super easy to get to the fun stuff, which is figuring out your fabric pairings and placements and sewing them together. I love a project where you can explore different color and print combinations as you go, and this project is perfect for that.

The frames are Kona Cactus, one of my favorites at the time. It’s so vibrant. This was before there was Pickle, Wasabi, Acid lime or any of the other greens that I’d grow to love as well. Is it just me, or do you remember your early favorite solids? (For the record – Cactus, Coral and Tangerine were some of those for me.)

There’s not too much to get wrong about this block, which makes it pretty carefree and easy. In some of my other Sunrise projects, I worked the fabrics and colors symmetrically within the blocks. In this sample I didn’t do that, but instead took the placement in a different direction. I like this effect as well.