Answering questions about A Few of My Favourite Things and folding a quilt for storage

Today I thought I would take the opportunity to respond to some of the questions and comments about yesterday's reveal of my quilt These are a Few of My Favourite Things.

Carolyn asked about the making of bowties. They were pieced and although they were made of fussy little pieces they were not challenging. The centre knot measures just under 1/2" so it was fiddly.  And then of course there were the triangles on the outside edge of the bowties. Setting them all together was a little challenging.

Doesn't the embroidered dog remind you of the RCA dog?

If I were to make this quilt again I would simplify the making of the bowties. I would draft a pattern for the bowties and English paper piece them. Next I would give them a good pressing with a hot iron and spray starch. The basting threads and papers would be removed and the bowties appliqued in place either by hand or by machine.

Carolyn also asked about the piecing of the border. The difficulty was that the instructions provided almost no instructions. on assembling the border. Added to this is the fact that the pattern was metric and although there were a few measurements given in inches. While the larger measurements were accurate the smaller measurements were less so. A difference of 1/8" multiplied across the width or length can make a significant difference so I drafted my own pattern for the border.

Once I had the pattern drafted I cut my fabric making sure to measure twice and cut once!  I cut the smaller white and blue patches for the pieced parts of the border. Then I cut the long white strip for the middle of this "lantern" border. On the wrong side of the white strip I made little pencil marks on either side of the strip where the pieced strips should line up. I pinned the strips together lining up the pencil mark with the pieced strip. In doing so I was able to make sure that the top and bottom of the lanterns line up.

Kath wrote about storing quilts. A friend of hers stores finished quilts on a spare bed to keep them flat and smooth. If you have a spare bed this is a terrific way to store them. Unfortunately I don't have a spare bed so my quilts must be folded for storage. A quilt that is folded can stretch the fibres and so the crease can become permanent. What I do to minimize this problem is fold the quilt on the bias. Here, let me do a quick demo on folding a quilt with a miniature quilt!

I lay the quilt flat on a bed.

Fold one corner over towards the opposite corner making sure to line up the sides.

Fold in one corner towards the middle making sure to line up the top edge.

Fold in the opposite corner towards the middle again making sure to line up the edges.

This is a very small quilt so there isn't much room for folding however on a larger quilt you will be able to fold in again.

Finally fold the quit to the desired size. All of the folds are on the diagonal which means the folds are on the bias of the fabric.

Although this will minimize damage to the fibres it is still a good idea to periodically refold quilts.

It is cold here and it snowed last night! At least the snow didn't last but it won't be too long before we have to get out there with a shovel! Brrr!

Until I post again, happy sewing!