A while back I started making a quilt for my cousin who was expecting her first baby in May. I absolutely loved this quilt and used it as inspiration for my cousin’s. In the beginning, everything went as smoothly as I could have hoped…I loved the mix of fabrics I had chosen and I had each little 4.5” square sewn together into one lovely quilt top. Problems ensued, however, nearly every step thereafter. For example, half way through quilting it, I was disappointed with the amount of puckering, so I picked out all of the stitching and re-pinned. Quilted again….more puckering. It was only after Suz commented on my post that I considered picking up a walking foot. Thank you so much, Suz, for that wonderful suggestion! I have no idea why I waited so long. So, I happily quilted it for the third time with much greater success and was pleased as punch with the results. I finished the quilt the day before my cousin’s baby shower and washed it that night. DISASTER! I pulled the quilt out of the wash only to discover that the beautiful blue plaid backing and binding fabric had bled alllllll over the creamy neutrals that made the quilt so sweet to begin with. After several more washes I deemed the quilt a failure and resigned to make her another one.
At least with this attempt I had the walking foot from the beginning. If you do straight line quilt without one I would really like to encourage you to try one out. Such a difference!
I had to retire my blue plaid backing and binding fabric and find a replacement, which was disappointing. It had so many lovely shades of blue and complemented the quilt beautifully….Sigh…
Are you a prewasher? I know there are some who always do and some who never do. I’m in the middle, and it usually just depends on how much time I have and what I’m using the fabric for. With clothes I usually try to prewash to account for any shrinking. I’m thinking now it’s probably worth the extra time just to go ahead and zig-zag those edges and toss it in the wash.
I am happy to say that quilt and baby are now together in their new home. May they spend many happy moments together over the years to come.
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Beautiful!!! Just beautiful!!! I’m so impressed that you kept going after all those issues — that’s awesome! Congratulations to your cousin!
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Hi!
I’m a quilter and definitely not a pre-washer (clothes-yes, quilting-no.) Next time you’re ready to wash a freshly-made quilt, throw a Shout Color Catcher sheet in the wash with it, it takes care of the bleeding!
Pretty quilt, and nice job on the quilting :)
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Well done on the 2nd quilt… I don’t know how you didn’t throw your sewing machine (and washing machine!) out the window! :-) I actually do NOT prewash when making a quilt. I only use high quality fabric, and I’ve never had a problem. (which means NO joanns fabric! Unless its the DS Quilts line, or Kona) Oh, and I only wash the finished quilt in COLD water.
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I found your blog via Flickr, and just wanted to tell you that this quilt has definitley inspired me to try quilting. It’s so sweet.
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Lesley…I’m so flattered by your comment! Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your first quilt! Feel free to email me along the way if you have any questions…not that I’m an expert by any means! Cheers!
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