pinegirl

I have a question as to ideas sewing a blanket/throw for a sofa. I have a grey sofa and yards of light weight navy wool suiting fabric. I'm thinking of making a 2 layer blanket for the sofa and maybe using decorative stitches on the end borders. Should I use a batting - if I do it may be stiff?? How to prevent the layers from shifting - ie. keeping it together so it appears to be one layer. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

Tartan

First take a scrap and launder it as you would the blanket to find out what it does. Does it shrink and wrinkle and the blanket need to be dry cleaned? If all was well, I would use the piece whole as every seam is going to fray. I don’t think you would need batting and I would stitch the pieces together in a large meander.

pinegirl

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm a quilting novice so the stippling/meandering would be intimidating for me. I have a quilting/embroidery machine and could do decorative stitches instead. Would you recommend a binding or none?

WesternWilson

pinegirl, just do straight line stitching, either with your decorative stitches or with a walking foot. Just be sure to stabilize the layers by some form of basting (spray basting would work well for you) first or you run the risk of puckers on the back. Because this is meant as a throw/cuddle quilt you do not have to quilt it densely.

pinegirl

Thanks so much for the spray basting tip. I'll try that on a scrap first and I have a new decorative walking foot that should work for this. I can always bind the edges and round the corners for a softer look. A few years ago DH was shopping with me at a very large fabric/decorating store in Toronto. He found a remnant of coating fabric (cashmere/wool blend) that I edged with wool braid. It's the perfect throw for our sofa! I want something similar to this but the fabric is much thinner. Thanks again.

Quiltwoman44

just spray it like hair spray, keep the can moving. not too much in one place. let it dry and then quilt.