How to: Give an Old Quilt New Life - with a lesson in Hand Quilting

 

Have you ever come across old quilt tops on e-bay, or maybe a quilt that just wasn't finished properly at the thrift store? Did you buy it or were you intimidated by the work involved in getting it 'right'? 

This is the story of a quilt that needed a little love and attention to be the best it could be. 

Found at a flea market languishing amongst a heap of fabrics, the colours just caught my eye. It was barely a quilt at all, but a pieced top backed with a tablecloth. No quilting, no batting. 

But the top was beautiful, with tiny hand stitched (1-1.5") triangles. All of the fabrics are pre 60's, every piece a little gem. I was in love. 

Unfortunately it had been backed and bound much later and very unsympathetically. The choice of backing fabric distracted from the design, and because it wasn't prewashed it had shrunk making the top bulge. 

 So here is how I fixed it, with a little lesson in hand quilting thrown in:  

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Doll Quilt No.3 & 4

Since I started teaching my freestyle quilting classes I've become a little addicted to making mini/doll quilts. I can't bare to throw even the tiniest fabric scraps away, so I love the idea of making something pretty out of them all. Here are number 3 and 4.
The bright purple one has some of my all time fave fabrics in it.
Don't have a dolly? These also make great place mats or table centerpieces.

Want to buy them? Yes? Head over to the shop and start your Christmas shopping now.

A fine vintage...

Just like wine lovers cellar their premium bottles for a special occasion, I have a special stash of fabric that I'm saving for just the right projects.
So when Amy from Modern Times Pop-Up Shop asked me to make some cushions for the event, I knew that it was time to open the vault. The Pop-up doesn't open till the 9th of December so I thought I'd offer some of my favorite ones in my shop so you, my very favorite people could have first pick. These are very limited edition as some of the fabric pieces were just small samples. Once Modern Times opens, they wont be available online any longer.

So far I've had a great response to the designs. Is this the kind of thing you'd like to see in the shop permanently?

An Experiment in Screen Printing...

When I saw that my friend Leslie of Maze & Vale (formally Onegirl) was doing a handprinted fabric swap, I couldn't resist joining in. I have been wanting to experiment with the whole screen printing thing for quite a while now and this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. My last hands on experience with screen printing was in high school, so I'm hardly an expert. This is not a tutorial but just a little guide as to how I went about it all and what I could improve on.

Equipment & Materials: I was lucky enough to pick up some printing ink from my local art shop very cheaply as they were clearing out this range. The only colour choice was silver, so silver it was! Fabric I have plenty of, and my very lovely friend Pilgrim lent me her screen and squeegee.

Design: Rather than burning onto the screen with emulsion (which I have no idea how to do), I thought making a stencil with vinyl adhesive (Contact) would be a good alternative. Little silver clouds seemed appropriate so I had drew the design and cut it out with a craft scalpel, then stuck it to the underside of the frame.
Looking back I should have drawn the clouds horizontal to the frame which would have made repeat prints a lot easier with less negative space. The next part was all a bit clumsy as I was on my own. Trying to deal with ink, hold a frame down, squeegee and then relocate the fabric was not impossible but would have been a whole lot simpler with another set of hands. I think most screen printers use a hinged frame so things don't shift around. Probably used way too much ink and ended up with silver hands!All in all, I think I did ok. I found the quality of my prints erratic and consistency was a problem. I only had a couple of perfect prints and the rest had patchy areas (see bottom left, below), I'm sure this was down to my technique, or lack thereof.
I also suspect towards the end some of the ink may have started to dry in the screen silk because I wasn't working quickly enough? Would love to hear from anyone that can give me some pointers. So hung out the fabric to dry, then ironed to heat set.
My fat quarters are all cut up and ready to ship around the world to my swap partners, I'm excited to see what they'll send me.
I'm not sure if this whole screen printing thing is for me though, it was quite enjoyable but the clean up was a real pain. I really need an assistant to do all the dirty work.

Have you tried screen printing before?