Patchwork Duvet Cover Set - Finally Finished...

I started making this quilt cover and pillow case set for my eldest daughter for her new room and bed (she was moving out of the little bedroom to make way for her baby sibling).

The original idea for this set was to use up the scraps of fabric that I had collected (over bought!) while making bits for the nursery. I had made the appliquéd ABC chart for my daughters first Christmas, but had only used up some of the tiny scraps making the bird peg rail and there was still plenty left over.

The white backing fabric was a single flat sheet from my local supermarket – it was the cheapest option especially during their sales.

The character is cut out of Mitsy Mouse Lilac fabric (Prestigious Textiles Safari Park Collection).

 

The large patches were machine stitched and sewn together using a French seam (to strengthen each seam). The appliqué was held in place using iron fusing before being stitched with a small tight zig zag. To close the duvet cover, I used the popper tape you can buy from haberdashery shops.

The quilt was finished, but the pillow case just got left on the to do pile...

So after a couple of years the pillow case was finally completed and now the whole set is now in use.

 

Thanks for looking today... stompy x

First Time Rag Quilt

 

One thing I have a lot of is scrappy bits of fabric, dating back many years (think there is some Laura Ashley fabric from 1975) and finding things to do with these scraps is always a challenge. I then stumbled across Rag Quilts on Pinterest.

As my littlest one will be moving in to a proper size bed soon, we need new bedding for her and thought that I would have a go at rag quilting.

I had quite a bit of pink and green scraps (to match her bedroom) – but did end up having to buy a few lengths of new fabric. (Sadly our town has recently lost our haberdashery/fabric store and the store that is “out of town” is stocked with Ends of Roll, so the choice isn't great). My best buy however was the backing fabric, which was a Double fitted sheet from our Sainsbury's supermarket during a 25% off sale. Note – not their basic range, that's way to thin.

So then started the quilting...

The quilt is 13x8 squares.

The squares with seam allowance were approx 18cmx18cm (7”x7”)

The wadding squares were approx 15cmx15cm (6”x6”)

 

Using a rotary cutter (absolutely essential) I cut about 60 pink patterned, 60 green patterned squares, 110 wadding squares, and accidentally well over 200 backing squares (using both the Sainsburys sheet and an old ripped sheet from the cupboard).

I sandwiched the squares (backing – wadding – patterned) pinning in two opposite corners.

Once the squares were pinned I started sewing the crosses. To make it quicker (and not to waste cotton) I sewed straight onto the next square so would end up with a “bunting like” length of half sewn squares. They were then snipped apart and then sewn in the other direction to finish the crosses.

The squares were then trimmed to size, this made lining up the seams so much easier.

Once I had decided on a pattern – the squares were sewn together (wrong sides facing).

I was surprised how little time this took – I was expecting a mammoth task. When I was making this I went down with a very nasty cold and throat infection so wasn't working at my usual capacity, but the sewing together only took me an evening to do.

The seams were then snipped whilst laying in bed (not the best idea as you get a lot of shedding of fibres at this stage – doh!).

My little one loves the end result – so does my other one – so it looks like I will be trying this technique of quilting again.....

Thank you for stopping by and looking - regards Stompy