Finished: Coral Herringbone Quilt

It's so nice to have a finish to share! Come to think of it, this custom quilt has been in the works since the end of last year. It's going off to a share adventures with a sweet little girl in Texas. This was the first time I worked with someone long distance to complete a custom quilt. It was a great learning process, and it allowed me to take the new knowledge and make other custom projects go even more smoothly.

Custom quilts are tricky. The ideal situation is for you to make quilts and have folks buy from that inventory. (Hear that folks? Etsy shop.) If someone wants a custom quilt to go with the colors of a particular nursery, tell them how much fabric is needed and let them go buy it. You can point them to online and local resources if there are some quilt shops in their area or loan out your color cards on a deposit. It's important to make sure they know the difference between quilt shop quality fabrics and big box store or home dec material. This approach saves you from spending lots of time trying to find the right colors, when the client already knows exactly what they are looking for. The other benefit is that you only have to quote the cost of labor.

My baby quilts are usually in the neighborhood of 60"x40" before washing. Depending on how they are pieced and quilted, I usually see shrinkage in the neighborhood of 3-5%. I haven't ever measured 6% shrinkage, but I've heard from others that it's totally possible. If someone wants a quilt of a certain size, let them know that you can hit it within 5" in either direction, but that the nature of fabric, quilting, and laundering makes it nearly impossible to have specific dimensions when that quilt comes out of the dryer. It should be pretty easy to hit the mark within 2"-3" in either direction of the desired measurements. Do let your client know that design elements near the edges of a quilt may be cropped differently depending on how the squaring process goes.

I loved all the feedback about laundering quilts before you send them off. I'm definitely pro-washing so that they can go through the washing machine with a color catcher and through the dryer on high heat for good shrinkage. I always want to be able to check for color bleed, any threads that need trimming, and any necessary repairs before sending off the quilt. There were also great suggestions for sending along some extra color catchers with washing instructions for those first few times through the washing machine.

Quilty Stats:
Pre-wash dimensions: 62 1/8"x 41 5/8"
Post-wash dimensions: 59 3/8"x 39 3/4"
Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company
Front Fabrics: Kona White, assorted prints including three Razmatazz Hipster prints
Back Fabric: Modern Meadow Herringbone in Pond by Joel Dewberry
Binding: Centennial Solids Silver Lining
Quilting: Angela Walter's "paisley" free motion quilting with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP

I'd love to hear any lessons ya'll have learned from making custom quilts either for free or for revenue ;-)

I did have to make a test quilt for this guy, so I look forward to sharing those photos this week!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Washing Quilts

Howdy! Some minor injuries and illnesses have distracted me from blogging this summer. I've got sewing to show for the downtime, though, and I'm excited to share it.

I just finished this custom quilt, and I put it in the wash today to get all crinkly. A few months ago, someone asked in the Austin MQG facebook group if people wash the quilts they make before giving them as gifts. Here are photos of this quilt before and after laundering:

1. The quilt shrinks anywhere from 3-5% in my experience. It can certainly shrink 6% if you quilt it densely. I wouldn't want the recipient to feel like they did something wrong when the quilt came out of the dryer so much smaller.

2. The whole texture of the quilt changes. I love quilts in their pre-washed and post-washed states. They're so flat and smooth before they're washed, and you can really appreciate the quilting. It can't last, though. The quilt will have to be washed sooner or later, so I just get it over with. I wouldn't want the recipient to fall in love with the pre-washed texture then feel differently about the quilt when it's washed.

3. Last minute repairs. Heaven forbid a seam shouldn't hold up or the binding didn't catch all the way around. Yikes. If anything does go wrong during that first laundering, you can make repairs by hand before sending it on its way.

I'll do a proper finished quilt post about this guy tomorrow. In the meantime, I'd love to know what ya'll think about washing quilts before you give them away :-)

Happy Crafting!

Claire

WIP Wednesday: Rose Star Quilt Update

I'm alive! True story.

I didn't plan on taking more than a month off from the blog. Between weeks under the weather with multiple trips to urgent care, a couple of short trips out of town, and wrapping up my term as the VP of Programming for the Austin Modern Quilt Guild, I haven't been up to sewing much; forget blogging.

I'm doing much better now, though, and I did get in a little hand sewing during travel time. Here's the progress that I have to show on the Rose Star quilt.

By some inexplicable magic, piecing in the background has gone really fast. With help from Clare at Selfsewn, I figured out how to cut the paper pieces for the edges of the quilt. I'll definitely do a post to share that process.

You can really see where the half blocks will go as the edge of the quilt comes together. I think they look like shark bites ;-) I'm waiting to piece the rest of the quilt top, then I'll go back and make the half blocks to finish it out.

I'm very pleased with the Stella Solid in Gray that I picked for the background. Thanks for all your help on Instagram! It was a ridiculous process, but it's nice to love it :-D I'm so glad I didn't go with Kona White.

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Marine Den Quilt Pattern

It's been a long time coming, but the Marine Den Quilt Pattern is finally here!

Here's the Quilty Stats for the most recent version: 

Post-wash dimensions: 56"x37"

Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company

Front Fabric: Michael Miller Cotton Couture solid in Wedgewood, Kona Cotton Blue, Ash, Ivory, and Celery, a gray "wood floors" print, Pearl Bracelets in Citron, River Bend, and Sandbox.

Back Fabric: Pearl Bracelets in River Bend

Binding Fabric: Kona Cotton in Celery

Quilting: Free Motion and Stitching in the Ditch with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP.

You've seen me work through a few versions of this quilt, but all the tweaking and double checking was worth it. I'm super proud of this modern quilt pattern that's been nagging at my brain since 2011. 

It's up and posted in My Pattern Store on Craftsy. I love their interface and the way they automatically alert you about updates or changes to any of the patterns that you have purchased. I also like that they send 100% of pattern sales back to the designer. That's not the way it works for PatternSpot or Etsy, so I like to release on Craftsy first. They're not paying me to say this; it's just true. They're awesome, and I thank them for it. 

I cannot wait to see the versions of the Marine Den quilt that ya'll sew up. Please email me with your photos, as I would LOVE to feature them on the blog. 

I'm participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival this week with this most recent Marine Den quilt! I'm not making the trek to Portland for spring market, so this is a fun way to celebrate from home. I will definitely be going to Houston for fall market, though ;-)

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Cheer do. Good Stiches Quilt

The Blogger's Quilt Festival is allowing the entry of two quilts this spring, so I only thought is appropriate to enter our rockin' January quilt from the Cheer Circle of do. Good Stitches. 

There's been such a great response to the bright, cheery colors in this quilt, why not spread the love?

This is the Starburst Cross block from a tutorial by SewCraftyJess. It worked out well for a bee sewing project, since all the star points are situated towards the middle of the blocks.

I free motion quilted it very heavily to reinforce some scant seams and to get myself lots more practice! I tried all different kinds of patterns and looked to Leah Day, Angela Walters, and Elizabeth Hartman for designs that looked within my newbie ability.

Since two of the blocks came in a full inch too small, I pieced in two coordinating squares of fabric on the top, and worked the small blocks into the back.

I've never done so much FMQ, and this is only the second quilt I've attempted it on after my most recent Marine Den quilt.

In the words of Angela Walters, I quilted it to death. I'm confident that this quilt will survive many trips through the washing machine in the future.

I really love the sweet little touch of the appliquéd do. Good Stitches label. I'm so glad that I ordered a fat quarter of labels for the Cheer Circle. We'll be good on labels for years to come :-)

Quilty Stats:
Pre-wash dimensions: 56.5"x 45"
Post-wash dimensions: 54"x43.5"
Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company
Front Fabric: Assorted prints from do. Good Stitches Cheer Circle Members
Back and Binding Fabric: Yellow plaid donated from my Mom's stash.
Quilting: Free Motion and Stitching in the Ditch with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP.
Donated to Project Linus

Have fun with the Blogger's Quilt Festival :-) I can't wait to see all of these beautiful quilts!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Clearing off the Cutting Table

This is a rare moment in The Clubhouse. You can see the surface of my cutting table. 

Truly, this never happens. I've gotta cut major yardage to attach giant background borders to my Terrain quilt, though, so I need real estate. 

I just wanted to commemorate the event before it's covered in clutter again. Those of you who don't have this problem, share your secrets!

The Marine Den pattern release is tomorrow; just another reason to love Friday. Get pumped!!!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

WIP Wednesday: Background Fabric for Two Quilts

The first quilt seeing some background action this week is the Rose Star quilt. I cut up the first half yard of fabric that I ordered into hexagons and hexagon thirds. Then I pieced them into these little shapes that I'm calling sprockets.

I've been able to work on it a little this week, and I'm pleased with how it's coming together so far :-)

The other quilt in need of some background action is my Summer Sampler Series quilt top that I made last year. I made the blocks all from Terrain fabrics. I have one of the four giant background/border pieces put on, but I still need to cut and attach the other two. 

I couldn't find ten yards of a single Terrain print for the back, so I bought fabric from another line to be the quilt back. Mr. Pins didn't feel like it as much, which means we're now back to square one on the quilt back situation. I'm thinking of piecing something out of Terrain prints that I can get my hands on, or Mr. Pins likes this Beatrice Weave print in Raspberry.

Also, the Cascading quilt pattern got a little refresh today. If you purchased it on Craftsy, you'll be getting an update email to let you know that it was changed. The content is still the same, but it has the current logo throughout as well as a nicer cover. The Marine Den pattern is coming on Friday, so get pumped!

That's what's goin' on in The Clubhouse. I can't wait to see what ya'll are working on!

Happy Crafting!

Claire