Originally Posted by ohmisslizzie
I am making my first regular style quilt for my sister for Christmas, I have always done rag quilting so this is new to me- I found the style of quilt I want to make and it has an online (confusing) tutorial, Im going to post a link so you understand my question.
My question is : The way this comes out it ends up looking like two twin quilts, I want the strips to flow across the middle so it doesnt look seperated. I hope someone understands what I am saying, I asked someone I know and she said maybe instead of doing it in 2 like instructions say to do four and cut strips shorter, but the way I read it - it is saying that you sew the two pieces together as in the top and bottom pieces - not the two sides???? Help, I really need to get this figured out- Im doing all homemade gifts for xmas and this one I need to get out of the way, also what do you reccomend for backing and filling? I want it to have a light fluff to it and be very high quality- I am using all organic fabrics, but the underside and filling doesnt have to be - I just want it to be good stuff!! heres my dilemma:
http://purlbee.squarespace.com/sunny-tied-quilt/
TIA FOR ANY HELP!!!
Okay. Against my better judgment, I'll tell you what I would do.
First off, your idea that the two pieces are sewn together as top and botton rather than left side and right side is wrong. This quilt is sewn in two pieces, and then they are joined down the middle. It is that middle seam you don't like.
I would make the two pieces as shown and then cut 1 of them in half down the middle. This would give you 3 pieces the length of the bed. Sew a narrow piece on each side of the wide piece. This will give you a center panel and two side panels, eliminating the impression of two quilts sewn together. For the sake of symmetry, I would make sure that the two side panels are sewn on as they were split apart, so the stripes match with each other on each side.
Are you tying the quilt? If the ties will be far apart (6 inches or more), then you need a stable batting such as Warm n Natural; however, the drape of that batting is slightly stiff and may not give you the "fluff" you want. Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 will give you the nice fluff, but you have to check to make sure that it is suitable for tying and to find out how close together the ties need to be.
Didn't you ask elsewhere about adjusting the size of the quilt? Not sure. Anyway, if you want to adjust the size, just add or eliminate strips to the length. When you are done with the panels, if the width is more than you want, just trim the widths. If you want the quilt wider than what is shown, you would have to buy more fabric and make another panel. This is because all of the fabrics are cut across the width of the fabrics, limiting the panel widths to about 42" each. If you want more than about 82" finished width, you need to make another panel.