Tuesday 26 June 2012

Mini Quilt Ta-Dah

Hello Lovelies,
I wonder if anybody can remember some patchwork I started last year? I made a little rectangle of squares and blogged about it HERE .
I used vintage and retro fabric from my stash after being inspired by KATES and JANES patchwork bedding.I even added some wadding and made it into a quilt

 My idea was to make a little dolls quilt for a thrifted dolly bed I had found previously. Well, things went O.K. till it came to the binding. Then I put it to one side while I tried to figure out how to approach it. I've never done binding before and was rather stumped by the whole concept. I tried looking on line for information. There were tutorials with photos ,but  somehow it wasn't going into my brain. After several weeks of looking at my sweet little patchwork I finally gave up and stashed it in a bag.

 Until now :0)
Here's how it looked when I finally found it ,buried under a load of yarn.......



A little creased but none the worse for wear . Time to grasp the bull by the horns, so to speak, and finally brave the binding. One of the fabrics I used in the patchwork was this vintage sheet .I've still got plenty of this left and  figured that if I made a mess of it , this wouldn't stand out too much ......
 

I followed Rita ,of the amazing Red Pepper Quilts , tutorial HERE. Her words and photos made the whole process clear and soon I was bravely sewing my binding to the quilt..........



Here it is sewn onto the front......



Then I had to trim the excess backing and wadding, before pinning it to the back.......



And stitch "in the ditch" ...another first for me......boy this took a lot of concentration and exceedingly slow sewing........



The idea is, by stitching like this your stitches should be pretty much invisible from the front and you catch the back of the binding neatly......ummm........I missed in a couple of spots but it only took a few hand stitches to repair these little mistakes.........



On the whole though, I'm really pleased with how my first attempt worked out , it's not perfect but it's still neat .Next time I will try using a contrasting fabric.......



Here is my cute little patchwork quilt on the washing line ...finally finished

Ta-Dah ...........



Ooooh I love it so .It's my first ever completed patchwork quilt..... I love the vintagy fabrics and the chunky hand quilting which gives it a lovely puffiness. I'm hoping, next time ,to  feel brave enough to try a bigger size, but this little project was perfect to get to grips with the basics .


Feeling inspired ,I hauled the little dolly bed out of the shed ( thank you for reminding me about this Jones )
and made a simple mattress and pillow to go with it........



Here's the finished ensemble :0)



With a  teddy ( because there are no dolls in this boy household )......


I think he looks very comfy , don't you ?



Right oh, back to my hexagons :0)
Hope your week goes well.
Jacquie x

36 comments:

  1. it's beautiful and looks totally cute with the teddy! i feel like i'd like to try something like that too... looks like it might be simple enough for me and a good project to get a bit more confidence with the sewing machine.

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  2. awesome..like your Mini Quilt too much..:)

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  3. Love it, i do hope you read teddy a bed time story when you tucked him up all snuggly LOL

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  4. I'm very impressed! I would have chickened out and done the whole lot by hand. *is scared of machine* It's a lovely quilt and your teddy looks very comfortable.

    Ali x

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  5. You've picked some lovely fabrics for this!

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  6. Perfect.

    And I was going to suggest Rita's tutorial. Guess what else? I've worked out there aren't any other essential quilting rules! (ok, maybe the basting one where you have to baste the quilt within an inch of its life). But, EXCITINGLY, I've fathomed that you can do anything you want with this quilting lark and it (mostly) WORKS.

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  7. Well done Jacquie, it looks great and Mr. Ted doesn't look like he's going to give up his comfy bed for a doll anytime soon, hehe......
    Great job on the binding too.

    I think you may have caught the patchwork bug, this is bound to be the first of many wonderful projects.......

    CLaire x

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  8. has been wonderful! and also I like the photos. congratulations and forward with new projects!

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  9. It's fabulous! I'm going to have a go at one now... I think I have that book coming in the post, too...

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  10. Olá Jacquie, bom dia!!
    belissimo seu projects!! amei Vou tentar faze-lo..

    Obrigada por compartilhar!!
    Tina artesanatos \Brasil!!

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  11. This is soooo sweet! there is a real sewing bug going around at the moment isn't there!

    I absolutley love the fabrics!

    Kate x

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  12. Lovely quilt. You just made me want to go and find some fabrics and make a doll quilt for my daughter's dolly bed. Thank you!

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  13. YOu did a wonderful job with this. I been wanting tol earn how to quilt just don't have the guts to do it. I will tackle it some day.

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  14. There is a sewing bug isn't there! Love this!! Love it, love it. Looking at the nicki trench book, I really thought about trying a quilt and then thought there just isn't a need for one in this crochet blanket chocka block home. This morning I was having a look on Nanacompany blog and she had made an adorable mini quilt and hung it on the wall... now there's an idea. Thanks for explaining the trench thing and how to do binding, as I am clueless to that side of things x

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  15. It's beautiful :) Congratulations. I always wondered/worried about the binding part too, but since NONE of my patchwork projects have ever even gotten to the binding stage...lol...I haven't had to fuss over that. But I'll bookmark RedPepper's tute & hopefully soon I'll have a little patchwork quilt to bind up too since you've inspired me :)
    Smiles, DianeM

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  16. Well done, it is very pretty!

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  17. Your blanket is completely adorable!!! What a super idea to make it mini so that you learn all the important stuff, but smaller!!! You did a fantastic job!!! :)

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  18. Flippin brilliant, it's gorgeous. I was reading thinking oh I'll offer to bind it just post it to me, but you cracked it! It gets easier each time you do it too. I always miss bits when I stitch in the ditch binding, if it's not too big I quite enjoy doing the back by hand. x

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  19. Oh Jacquie, it's perfect! And very well done, especially for a first attempt :)
    xo,
    wink

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  21. That looks great! I also made my first little mini-quilt recently (http://dinkidots.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tilda-mini-quilt-runner-ta-dah.html) and I was really daunted by the binding too! It is so satisfying when it's done, though - I was so pleased with my little quilt!

    Maria x

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  22. It's beautiful!!

    Luv Jane XX

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  23. Nice things you have on your blog. I like them.. groeten uit Nederland.

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  24. It is really pretty - well done. I am still too scared of my sewing machine - its like a writers block thing with me and sewing machines! A little project like this is a good idea rather than trying to make a king sized quilt first. Lily. xxx

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  25. That little bed with the quilt just makes me want to climb back into my bed. You did a great job of it, well done. I leant patchwork many years ago, but never got to the stage of making anything like that.
    xx Sandi

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  26. So cute and you make it look so easy too. Teddy does look very happy ☺

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  27. That looks absolutely gorgeous. My mum has been working on a hexagon quilt for years and I mean YEARS! She now has it to the size she wants and has asked me to do the backing and binding on my sewing machine, I have never ever done anything big like that and keep putting her off as I am scared I will ruin it, might have to check out some blogs for some help!

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  28. well done jacquie. the little quilt is darling and teddy looks very settled and snug. little quilts are a good way to go. i have too many large unfinished projects including hexie ones. oh dear. blessings , trills.:-)

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  29. It's lovely and teddy looks as pleased as Punch with it!

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  30. Hello Jacquie
    Well to me it looks impressive and its for a teddy's bed!!!!!!
    This actually finally clinches it for me if you can do that gorgeous quilt for a teddy's bed I've got to be able to learn....I am going to learn how to patchwork and I'm going to learn how to quilt without a machine and do it by hand and I'll start in August when I have a month off work. Start small I think!!! Can you suggest any patchwork/quilting book for beginners please???
    I've got to be able to make do it :-)

    Amanda :-)

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  31. Isn't it great when you learn a new skill and thank god for the internet for helping us! Your quilt is of course gorgeous and that teddy looks just fine tucked up in his bed. ♥

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  32. Congratulations on completing your first quilt! It looks lovely, and Teddy seems very happy with it.
    Blessings,
    Kate

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  33. hahaha...i loved the last pics with the teddy in bed, just adorable!!!
    congratulations on your first quilt, it looks really beautiful!! xxxx

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  34. Cute Jacquie! Me too struggled with bindings. Still am. I tried Red Pepper Quilts Tute but found it a bit difficult, bumping into the same problems as you did, not catching the edge on the other side at places. So I am doing it the reversed way. Like this: Sew on the binding to the back instead of the front. Fold it over to the front and then you sew on the binding from the front, catching the edge as it is visual (you get it right? It was harder than I thought it would be to explain without pictures...). Sometimes your seam might be wobbly on the back of the quilt but that is better than on the front and after some trial runs it is getting easier and easier. Well done. It is drop dead cute!

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  35. My goodness, I can't believe how this passed me by, I really have been missing from blogland for too long. But although we are a few months down the line and you're onto new projects now, I just wanted to say WELL DONE! The patchwork looks fantastic! and the whole thing just looks adorable on the little thrifted bed (I'm glad I reminded you about it!). The edge binding looks scary difficult, but you've inspired me that I should have a go. Gaaa!
    Jones x

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