Dear Jane: Quilt As You Go
So, part of the reason why I love the Dear Jane quilt is because Jane did some seriously dense and seriously beautiful quilting! It got me thinking about how I wanted to quilt mine, assuming I ever finish it.
I thought how amazing it would be to have a hand quilted Dear Jane but then I remembered what a chore it was to hand quilt my Bottled Rainbows (which is finally 100% finished, by the way). See evidence here:
After looking up some tutorials, I decided to give the quilt as you go method a try. I do enjoy hand quilting very small quilts and the DJ blocks have 1/2" sashing. It's like it was meant to be!
So, here we go:
I make a quilt sandwich with my block, warm and white batting and a square of the same Liberty fabric that's featured in the block. Then I make big, messy (yet oh so delicious!) stitches using DMC #8 pearl cotton (in white) that I bought from Purl Soho. I'm using Jane's quilting as inspiration but I'm not set on following it exactly.
Once the block is quilted, I trim the whole thing to 5" and then add the 1/2" sashing (like in this tutorial). The back sashing is first sewn by machine, then finished by hand (just like a quilt binding).
So far, it's a perfectly enjoyable way to finish these tiny blocks! I think I'm a fan of quilt as you go...are you?
I thought how amazing it would be to have a hand quilted Dear Jane but then I remembered what a chore it was to hand quilt my Bottled Rainbows (which is finally 100% finished, by the way). See evidence here:
After looking up some tutorials, I decided to give the quilt as you go method a try. I do enjoy hand quilting very small quilts and the DJ blocks have 1/2" sashing. It's like it was meant to be!
So, here we go:
I make a quilt sandwich with my block, warm and white batting and a square of the same Liberty fabric that's featured in the block. Then I make big, messy (yet oh so delicious!) stitches using DMC #8 pearl cotton (in white) that I bought from Purl Soho. I'm using Jane's quilting as inspiration but I'm not set on following it exactly.
Once the block is quilted, I trim the whole thing to 5" and then add the 1/2" sashing (like in this tutorial). The back sashing is first sewn by machine, then finished by hand (just like a quilt binding).
So far, it's a perfectly enjoyable way to finish these tiny blocks! I think I'm a fan of quilt as you go...are you?
Wow this is going to be gorgeous - the liberty on the backs lovely too.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm super excited about using liberty for the back. :) It made the quilt as you go option that much more appealing.
Deletesorry I've been absent from your blog! you know I lost my old computer and since I got my new one, I don' think I've browsed the blogs even! I saw these on flickr and I did comment there. But anyway, I REALLY love these! You know I'm not a huge fan of the Dear Jane quilt (well the only example of it that I've seen) but THIS....I love! It's going to be great with these fabrics and the back is going to be like a giant, beautiful, Liberty patchwork quilt!! yummy!
ReplyDeleteGreat way to do it!!! I did quilt mine by hand with a sort of QAYG method. I sewed sections of block together, sandwiched them and quilted, then I sewed the sections together. I thin if I ever would do another DJ, I would use your method. Because it is a very long process it is nice to see little pieces finished. Liberty is a great choise.
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! I wish I had known about this method before I started!!! I am almost finished the triangles and am faced with all that quilting!!!
ReplyDeleteThat Quilt-As-You-Go method looks really great. I tried it once and failed miserably.
ReplyDeleteDid you use a tutorial to learn it? Could you send me the link? If not, would you care to make a tutorial about your QAYG method?
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletegr. Carin