A new quilt top pieced, just need to quilt it now. Backing and batting is here, so I’m just waiting for a bit of free time.
Tag: Quilting
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#34: Baby Quilt
It’s done… the 40″x40″ baby quilt. Machine pieced and quilted, and binding hand sewn. I did it as a test piece for a range I would like to potentially sell in the future, and at getting paid only £10 an hour I can make it retail for £175. That’s pretty expensive. I guess I need to work out if I can speed up in some places.
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#12: Monochrome Plusses Quilt Top
I decided last weekend to start a king size quilt as a way of destressing from exam period.
Today I finished the quilt top. It has 1369 squares.
Now I have to decide if I’m going to attempt to quilt it myself, take lessons and hire a longarm quilting machine, or pay someone else to quilt it.
It’s had 24 hours of construction in it so far. Which actually is less than I assumed it would take.
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Massdrop for Quilting Supplies in the UK
I have to admit, I’ve discovered some real beauties on Massdrop* recently. You don’t know what Massdrop is? Well it’s a website where people get together in a group to bulk purchase stuff. It has a quilting section. No prizes for guessing why I’m there…
So, let me tell you what I’ve bought so far on Massdrop*. Sometime they rerun the drops if they’re popular, so it’s worth checking back and following things you like!
(It is worth considering that you do not pay import taxes up front on these shipments. So always calculate at least 20% on top of the price you’re paying to cover that. If you don’t get charged you got a bargain. If you do, then you were prepared!)
The first drop I got in on was the Typography Fat Quarter Bundle from Cloud9 fabrics. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? I’m not really that into patterns that represent stuff, but I figured that since I’m a writer then this kind of thing suited me.
I’m planning something modern in the shape of an Ampersand (one of these: &) with white as the background colour. Need to sketch it up and work it out.
Then I got in on another fabric drop. This time it was the Nordic Fat Quarter Bundle by Camelot Fabrics.
So, this bundle is really interesting. Camelot Fabrics are really, really hard to buy in the UK. Some of the more chintzy stuff is available, but the super simple geometrics are very hard to get hold of. It was this that made me think ‘why don’t we have a quilt shop in the UK that caters to the taste of people like me?’ And thus I have started getting in touch with wholesalers andViva La Revolución, it seems that I might be opening a fabric shop. It might fall flat on it’s face. But it might not.
Anyway, here it is, and the quilt I made with it.
Then it was a pattern. My Mum likes African stuff you see, and I thought that at some point I might make her this quilt. The pattern is by Violet Craft for Michael Miller.
And then this week I decided to go for the CurveMaster 1/4″ foot for my sewing machine. You can pick them up in the UK and this won’t be much cheaper – but I like to support Massdrop* as a concept, and I’m hoping that more big manufacturers will get in on the Massdrop action when they see how popular it is.
And that’s it so far. Although I nearly bought a load of Star Wars fabric last week. And then I almost bought a whole box of solid fabrics. It’s kind of dangerous really. Not as dangerous as my own fabric shop might be though.
I’m just glad I tidied my sewing room a bit recently…
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Organising the Fabric in my Sewing Room
I have a huge problem. Actually, it’s not huge. It’s a medium size room. I have a medium size room problem.
Our stuff has got out of hand in our sewing and hobby room.
You see, I’m not very good at putting stuff away once I’ve finished with it. And since it’s the middle floor of our house, it acts as a kind of dumping ground for stuff that doesn’t really have anywhere else to go.
Urgh. It’s just awful. And because it’s not a space I want to work in, I took my sewing machine downstairs to the lounge to work on stuff. So I’ve been cluttering up our dining table with my sewing, and to be honest my partner was starting to get a bit fed up with me taking over the lounge as well.
So I folded all my fabric up and filed it into baskets. Well, not all the fabric, just the quilting fabric that I have here (I have a boatload at my Dad’s that I might go and collect on Friday…). I used this tutorial here, you might find it helpful too.
The baskets were from Wilkos and barely cost anything at all.
And then I got to work on sorting out my scraps that are left over from making quilts, costumes and testing out embroidery and stuff.
Yup, they’re a whole load of 2.5″ squares. I was going to just put them to one side to amass more, but I couldn’t wait to get started on putting some blocks together. I’d not have put those particular colours together before, but actually they looked really good.
It’s going to be an Irish Chain quilt when I’ve finished. I just need to cut a load more bigger white squares.
The hexie quilt got a couple more scraps added too – so I’ve got 70 hexies in total now. Just about another thousand to go!
Believe me when I say it’s tidier. It really is. Even the small amount I did has made a huge difference to how I can move around the room. Much better.
Plus I made an extra special effort to make the fireplace look cute.
Now I actually *want* to stand there and do the ironing.
The tidying push has mostly come about because of two books I’m currently reading.
This one is Spark Joy, a book by Marie Kondo.* It’s a pretty hardcore approach to tidying and I’m not sure if I’m ready to go all out. I’m doing a gentle first sweep of the house before I commit to too much decluttering.
But you know, I’m still throwing out a carrier bag of stuff every day roughly – and it’s just rubbish. Like, literally rubbish. Stuff I just shouldn’t have in my house – shop recipts, broken pegs, out of date painkillers. STUFF!
The second one I’ve been reading is called The Shopkeeper’s Home.* It’s a great big coffee table book full of gorgeous pictures of incredibly well styled shops, and the homes of the people that created those shops. I certainly see a tour of the UK shops featured in my future.
Why am I reading books about shops? You’ll have to find out later I guess. It’s a bit of a project. We’ll see if it gets off the ground.
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#11: Nordic Quilt
Here is it – number 11 in the “52 weeks of crafting” challenge. Mind you, technically it’s week 17, so I’m behind by 6 makes… I should try some small projects for a bit perhaps.
The photos are distinctly average, because as I threw the quilt on the bed to photograph it, it started hailing. What’s up with the weather at the moment?
I mentioned earlier in the week that I’d bought a copy of Jacquie Gering’s class on Craftsy on quilting with your walking foot*, and I’m really pleased I did. I feel like my walking foot quilting is a million times better having taken a load of her advice on this one.
You might be interested in the post where I worked out what I’d have to sell this quilt for.
I picked up this fabric from a Massdrop* deal. You should head on over and see what they have in their quilting section.
Also note – cute little label for secret project.
Next time – something more adventurous. I like the look of the spiral quilting from Jacquies class – and I have a whole load of Cotton + Steel fabric* to use!
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Costing the Nordic Quilt
I recently came across this really helpful article and handy spreadsheet by Molli Sparkles about professional quilt pricing. It’s well worth downloading the spreadsheet and putting some figures into it, seeing what kind of amount pops out the bottom as your ‘retail’ price.
I tried it with the Nordic quilt that I’m just finishing the binding on now. I had an idea that I wanted to sell it on Etsy when I finished, but I wasn’t quite sure what sort of price to list it as. (As it turns out, I made a bit of a mistake with some of the quilting so it’s destined for my sofa rather than someone else’s sofa.) I guessed that someone *might* pay about £400 if I could but the right artisan, handmade spin on my listing. But that would take ages to sell I reckon, since I have no brand behind me and no track record. *le sigh* It’s always an uphill struggle when you start out.
So anyway, here’s the spreadsheet I filled in. I have used a wage that many of my craftsman/maker friends use as a target – £20 per hour. I feel like I have the sewing / quilting skill to justify that amount.
Yup, that figure at the bottom there says £795.90 in total. That’s how much I should sell the quilt at, to get a half-decent hourly wage and a small amount of profit in my business.
I mean what I find interesting about that spreadsheet is how little difference the fabric makes to the final price. I used roughly four meters of fabric for the front of that quilt. At premium UK rates I would have paid about £48 – nearly double what I actually paid from the fabric from Massdrop* (although worth noting – I bought a large FQ pack and only used half of each except the solid colours, I still have £20 of fabric sitting around in the same colourway). You could equally save money by buying from somewhere in the States like Craftsy*. But the reality is that it just doesn’t matter that much.
Buying in the UK would have made my quilt cost £820 rather than £795 – but the problem is that nobody is going to pay that much for that quilt. Which is a shame really, because the binding is looking really rather neat, and I have enough fabric to make another… and check out that gorgeous Ikea fabric I’ve used for backing! Isn’t it just lovely? I can’t wait to see how it washes and perhaps buy a few more bundles of it.
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Quilting the Nocturne Quilt Top
So I’ve been wondering how best to quilt my work in progress that is the several hundred half square triangles (HST). I thought initially of doing little joined up stars in the white lines, but it felt a bit chintzy and childish the more I thought about it. I’m not sure that my Aunt is into that kind of thing, so I put it aside and started working on something else while I considered what to do.
Then I was browsing Craftsy yesterday morning – and trying not to buy anymore fabric* – when I came across a class that looked really interesting. (Did you know they do really excellent video classes*? I’ve taken a couple of their sketching classes before.)
Anyway, the class I was looking at was Creative Quilting with your Walking Foot*. The tutor is Jacquie Gering and I was utterly blown away by some of the modern quilting designs she was creating in the class. In particular I think that the radiating lines might work brilliantly for this quilt, starting from the point where the cream coloured fabrics converge. So I bought the class – what can I say, it was half price yesterday! Unfortunately the sale is now over, but having watched some of the class already, I can tell it’s going to be worth every penny.
I’m really looking forwards to getting this one on the machine – when the current one I’m working on is finished. Thankfully this Nocturne quilt isn’t too big, so I’m feeling confident to try out a new style of quilting on it.
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#10: Nocturne Quilt Top
These fabrics are from Janet Clare, designing for Moda. It’s a really lovely collection – I love some of the abstracts in it (particularly that little matchstick type print). I’m not really into prints, so the rest of it isn’t really to my taste.
However! This isn’t for me, it’s for my Aunt as a birthday present later in the year, and she loves these kinds of colours and prints. So I reckon we should be fine.
BTW, have you checked out Craftsy lately? I’ve been buying so much new lovely fabric there recently. It’s a great price if you’re in the UK – cheaper than buying over here, and they include all your import taxes in the shipping fee. Mind you, it’s an expensive shipping fee, so many sure you buy enough!
I bought a couple of their quilt kits last week to make next. Adam is difficult to make for, but he’s fallen in love with some hipster arrow quilt thing. More about that when I start working on it…
Aren’t the fabrics nice together? I really like Janet’s sense of style and colour. They just work without any extra effort needed. This one was made with a single jelly roll and the same amount of plain Ikea fabric. It was Janet’s fabric that I used in my Thames Barge quilt too!
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#9: Nordic Quilt Top
I don’t love it.
But I’m going to persevere and quilt it. I might even make the binding today – although the grey fabric I bought isn’t quite the right grey.
The fabric came from Massdrop* – if you’ve not taken a look around there yet, you really should. Plus if you sign up, then I get a chance at getting a box packed full of lovely things! Basically it’s a buying community where lots of people can order the same thing, so that the manufacturer gives it to us cheaper. So what are you waiting for? Go sign up now*!
If they don’t have the awesome Nordic Fat Quarter bundle on sale over on Massdrop, try taking a look at Craftsy’s ‘Modern’ quilt fabric section instead*. There’s some lovely stuff in there.
