Sewing on the 4th of July
Nothing like a long holiday weekend for finding time for rest, relaxation and sewing, right? That's exactly what I told my husband when he asked why I packed a sewing machine for our out of town trip! I decided to make something new out of something old using a few of the vintage fabric strips that I recently inherited.
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I discovered a few things about these pieced strips of vintage scraps; mainly that they were sewn together in a kind of naive-beginning-stitching kind of way, making some of the strips pretty crooked. I hesitated a bit about straightening the strips out but decided at the last minute to just GO FOR IT and picked five strips from the bag for this project.
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I decided to separate the strips with rows of white and add a small strip of color (I picked a few colors that seem to repeat in many of the scraps) throughout the quilt. A simple design, but it pushed me to really think about quilt sizes, seam allowances, and the engineering that goes into cutting and piecing a quilt top. I managed to finish piecing the top on the 4th of July, and it's not too shabby despite this being my first try and the crooked strips!
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It's about 47" wide and 70" long, and I finished the back today with the scraps left over from piecing the front. I just need to pick up some lightweight cotton batting, thread and needles to get started on quilting it all together. I have no idea about the binding - I could repeat some of the solid colors, or go with a different solid color like red or blue, but I think I need some help here! Do you have an idea what color binding would look best?
I discovered a few things about these pieced strips of vintage scraps; mainly that they were sewn together in a kind of naive-beginning-stitching kind of way, making some of the strips pretty crooked. I hesitated a bit about straightening the strips out but decided at the last minute to just GO FOR IT and picked five strips from the bag for this project.
I decided to separate the strips with rows of white and add a small strip of color (I picked a few colors that seem to repeat in many of the scraps) throughout the quilt. A simple design, but it pushed me to really think about quilt sizes, seam allowances, and the engineering that goes into cutting and piecing a quilt top. I managed to finish piecing the top on the 4th of July, and it's not too shabby despite this being my first try and the crooked strips!
It's about 47" wide and 70" long, and I finished the back today with the scraps left over from piecing the front. I just need to pick up some lightweight cotton batting, thread and needles to get started on quilting it all together. I have no idea about the binding - I could repeat some of the solid colors, or go with a different solid color like red or blue, but I think I need some help here! Do you have an idea what color binding would look best?
Comments
I think I'd go with either the lime, yellow or pink for the binding - any will look fantastic.
-rachel
I. love. this. quilt! Great job on the design!