Village quilts 2 & 3

It’s been a few months since I shared my first village charity quilt, and back in May I wasn’t as on track as I’d wanted to be to meet my ‘one a quarter’ plan, but it’s amazing what a difference a couple of months can make, as here I am with the second and third of this style of quilts - and I still love making them so I think there will be plenty more.

But 2 & 3…

Mum came along to the July Saturday sewing group meeting with me and at that meeting I seemed to steam through topping up my house pile to make another top. I know I need 30 houses for each quilt top, so when I think I’m close and then find out I’m not as close as I thought, I put my foot down.

Anyway at that sewing group meeting I completed the top for the second quilt - and as you’ll notice one of the houses on the second row has a more modern take on the roof shape. It’s an oops, but an acceptable oops in this style of quilt, as well, not all houses look the same anyway do they?

VILLAGE 2 QUILT TOP

I enjoyed piecing this so much that over the next few days I completed the top for my third village quilt.

VILLAGE 3 QUILT TOP

I love how they look so different, but are so clearly the same design. Some fabrics are used in both quilt tops, and some will continue to feature for a quilt or two more I’m sure, while I’ve probably used the last of some in these quilts.

I decided it would be sensible to choose two different backings for these quilts, as it made sense to batch the remaining tasks. This led me to another ‘design decision’. I was keen to use the bluey/grey and white dot fabric with the yellow flowers as a backing for the final time, but if I added two borders I wouldn’t have quite enough. I guestimated that with a single border I could use it as backing, and even better I could use that material on the front too as a border, though I wasn’t quite sure how it would work as previously I’d used the cream border.

There was only one way to find out

So both quilts were basted and quilted, then trimmed ready for binding.

VILLAGE 2 QUILTED

VILLAGE 3 QUILTED

The patterned border makes them look quite different again, doesn’t it?

I like it though, and it’s persuaded me to be bolder with some of these quilts in the future. But discipline meant that I needed to finish these quilts before I’d let myself play with any future colour schemes, and I wanted to include both of these in my donation early in September.

VILLAGE 2 FINISHED

VILLAGE 3 FINISHED

I’m pleased with both of them and love how they’re both the same but also so different - and I hope that they’ll provide a hug to someone that needs one soon.

You can see my other quilts I’ve made to donate to Project Linus - a charity whose mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children, who are sick, disabled, disadvantaged or distressed through the donation of new, homemade, washable quilts and blankets.

Made the dress, wore the dress

I’d had this dress earmarked as my next project for a while, and while I’d cut out the paper pattern the fabric sat on the side almost taunting me. On mum’s recent visit she looked at the pattern and declared I could do it, but pointed it out it had a facing. I think that’s because I’m not really a fan of facings which flap about and get in the way, not because a facing was tricky to sew, well I think so anyway.

But anyway with a family outing planned with a meal on the Bluebell Railway, I thought to myself that it’d be quite nice to have something new to wear the following weekend. That’s when my brain said, well you can make that sundress, can’t you? And when your brain challenges you like that, sometimes you just have to prove it right. Or wrong.

So that’s what I did.

On the Monday I took the fabric and the pattern to my sewing group, and pondered pattern placement. I took my scissors but didn’t really expect to cut it out there as I hadn’t measured myself against the pattern sizes, so after a fair bit of faffing, I folded the pattern pieces up in the fabric and got on with something else.

I don’t think anyone at that Monday night group thought I’d really make it in a week, and at this point I wasn’t sure either, but hey ho!

Overnight my brain percolated more thoughts: the pattern pieces I’d been struggling to fit into one half of the fold was solved when I realised the fold didn’t need to produce equal parts, simple really but I worked it out.

And my brain decided to add a further condition, when it remembered that I’d bought some fab labels at the Festival of Quilts, and that it’d be great to include one on this dress. My awake brain remembered that I’m not a big fan of labels in clothes as often they can be scratchy, and then wondered why on earth I’d bought myself some labels anyway (in my defence they are very cute!).

Then I realised the label could be on the outside of the garment, just because they’re traditionally inside a garment didn’t mean that that’s where I needed to place it. So sorted, it was going on the pocket.

On the Tuesday afternoon I commandeered our oversized kitchen island to check if my overnight revelations were good. They were, and so the dress was cut out completely that afternoon.

It was just as well that the shop had mis-measured the material when I bought it in the sale back in May, as I needed that extra 60cms. Well I needed some of it, as this was my first time using this pattern I decided to cut it to the full length even though I knew it would be too long for me, but I was unsure how much shorter I wanted it but I knew I could sort that out later. If I didn’t have enough then I’d have needed to work it out, but I was about 25 cms away from doing that.

On Wednesday I started to sew, and the pattern started with assembling the pockets, so I got to check to see if my plan for the label would work out. It did, and remarkably well, though if I was doing this again now I’d add interfacing to the pink contrast pocket top as it’s a more lightweight fabric.

And doesn’t it look as if it was made for this dress?

I also discovered the benefits of a well-stocked craft room, as not only did I manage to locate the exact size zip the pattern suggested, I also had one in a toning pink. Then I found some cotton that matched the green background, so I was sorted, and maybe, just maybe making the dress to wear at the weekend was actually a go-er.

Thursday there was more sewing, and the zip went in. It’s in, it zips and hasn’t fallen out yet so that’s all good, but I think it could be neater though I guess with practice that will come. There was a slight mishap to the sewing schedule as while I was putting the zip in the tape I’d used to secure it decided to stick itself to my sewing machine leaving a sticky gluey mark, not the best. So MOH was called in with some rubbing alcohol to resolve the sticky situation successfully.

By the end of Thursday most of the sewing was done, there was just the top of the bodice to finish and the hem, but I sensibly decided to leave that for another day.

So after a very hot day at this year’s Rutland Flower Show I decided I wasn’t going to be beaten by my own rather daft challenge, and so it was time to work out how long I wanted the straps, and what length I wanted the dress to be.

MOH was called into operation again, to check that the straps covered my bra straps and to mark the hem. He was ok with the first task, but unsure on the second - but we got there. In the end I cut about an inch off the straps, and six inches off the bottom of the dress, so that’s an adjustment I can make from the off next time I use this pattern.

And so Friday night it was finished. I didn’t quite get the instructions for finishing the bodice so decided to wing it a bit, and added a row of topstitch around the armholes and neckline, and if I’m honest I like this kind of finish. It did mean that the contrasting rosebud facing was a bit flappy, which I’m not a fan of, so I sat there and hand sewed it into place.

Then after whizzing round the bottom a couple of times for the hem, and a really good press, it was actually finished.

So on Saturday night I wore the dress, and what’s more it looked and felt great - and not one single person asked if I’d made it, which I’m taking as a sign of success rather than everyone thought it was awful!

And while I’ll probably make another one, it probably won’t be in a week!

A perfect pre-holiday pouch

Before I went away I had what seemed like an ever growing list of things I wanted to do before I went, which at times got revised down so it was shorter, and then again to include just the essentials. But one of the things that stayed on the list was completing my new pouch, and spoiler I did it - I was thankful that there was a sewing group morning the day before we travelled so if I needed to I could devote those three hours to finishing it. I didn’t need the three hours in the end, but I did finish it the day before I went. Phew.

This pouch was in the Day 14 box of my Advent Calendar last year, and after moving a pile of projects in my craft room I rediscovered it, so I thought why not get it done.

The instructions were good, but I hit a small stumbling point early on. The kit was supposed to have four pieces of fabric, but I had only three - I knew this when I opened it in December, and well let’s be honest, I knew I’d have some fabric that I could substitute for the missing piece.

What I didn’t realise until my focus was on making this pouch was that I’d pulled a piece from my stash that worked, and used that earlier in the year to practice some quilting on with one of the variegated cottons I’d bought.

It was perfect, and just what I wanted - although it was about an inch smaller than the other pieces. Problem solved, my pouch would be an inch smaller. And so I followed the instructions (which were clearly written) and all was well until I got to the line which said: ‘quilt as desired’.

In my head that turned out to be hand quilt this with tiny chain stitches in three different coloured cottons, and follow the wavy design. I shared this picture in my This May post, so you’ll be pleased to know that progress happened, and the pouch actually got made!

And yes, I then did decide to hand embellish the substitute side as well, clearly I’m a glutton for punishment.

But they do look good!

The kit also came with a navy zip, but as you can see I opted for an orange one from my stash instead, I think it helps tie both sides together - and it’s far more interesting than navy!

It’s the first time I’ve added a tag on the side, and that worked well - the fabric is fussy cut from remnants from the lining fabric. I even added a custom sized internal pocket with three individual spaces to hold smaller items, which were just the size I needed them to be.

I’m really pleased with how this new-shape-to-me-pouch worked out, and I can see that I’ll be making some more. I love the finish the zip tabs give the pouch, and the boxy bottom means it stands up too.

So that’s another pouch to my repertoire, and a pretty and practical one at that.