Imagine my joy when I discovered a whole pile of vintage partially hand pieced wedding quilt pieces. Can you just image all these beautiful prints being highlighted by a white background?
So for a very small investment I bought them all. I sewed four semi circles together to get an idea of the scale of each circle. The full circle measures just about 18''. Up until now, I've only really made household goods or handbags. I normally wash every yard of fabric that enters my craft room. But just recently I learned that if you pre-wash your fabric you won't get a beautifully crinkled quilt. The quilter I bought these vintage pieces from suggested I use a white kona cotton (just learned about that too), appliqué the circles to the cotton, then wash the finished quilt with a cup of vinegar in the wash water. Apparently the vinegar will help suspend any dye that leeches out of the vintage fabric and hopefully stop any color from bleeding onto my white background.I am thinking of cutting the kona cotton into 20'' squares and sewing the circles onto each block. Should I spend the time and use a hidden stitch to hand appliqué all 20 circles? Or should I pin the circles within an inch of their lives and machine top stitch an 1/8th'' around all edges? I used a mini iron and a spray bottle of water to turn all the edges under. I may go get some starch to make sure the pressed seam stays. Invest my time or be happy with semi- instant gratification?
What would you do?
Oh that will be so pretty!! I think the finished product will be fantastic, whether you hand stith or topstitch. If you topstitch, there's always fear that it will move, or bunch, or pucker. But if you plan on quilting over the circles somehow in the end it might not matter. Me, I'd probably be using this quilt everyday so I would probably go the machine route to make it super sturdy!
ReplyDeleteI'm all about the instant gratification in my sewing, so that's the route I'd take... but that doesn't mean it's the correct route! ha. It's going to be amazingly beautiful either way!
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I didn't understand a word in your post, but I'm sure the end result will be beautiful no matter what you decide!
ReplyDeleteHi LeeAnn, my my, it's looking gorgeous! I'd probably go with the machine stitching just because I would want a more sturdy quilt that I wouldn't have to baby. Just make sure to use your walking foot when stitching them down and they shouldn't pucker or move too much. I just ordered a whole b**tload of kona cotton too, I cannot wait to get it. They have some truly amazing colors!
ReplyDeleteI think that no matter how you make this, it will be lovely! Those quilt blocks are a great find!
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be beautiful! I love all of those pieces and colors. I would machine stitch them to the cotton for stability too, but I can also picture an embroidered blanket stitch around the outer edges of the circles, on top of the machine stitching.
ReplyDeleteI think it'll be lovely whichever solution you choose. Instant gratification seems great to me personally.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be gorgeous! Those fabrics are amazing. I'd go with the machine applique if you're going to quilt it anyway. can't wait to see if finished!
ReplyDeleteInvest the time to do it right I say!
ReplyDelete