alisonquilts

Hi y'all,

I am making a T-shirt quilt for a gentleman who really likes plaid, and has requested that the backing be plaid flannel. That's fine. I'm good with that.

Given his fondness for plaid I am considering sashing the Ts with plaid fabric, and am concerned that it may drive me insane trying to keep the plaid lines vertical or horizontal, and parallel with the edges of the T blocks. Has anyone tried sashing with plaids? Does it make your head explode? Should I just give myself a break and sash with a delightful, non-directional, neutral blender in rich manly colors? I could always bind with a plaid - might look cool cut on bias...

Alison

omacookie

I would frame with a small print or a solid color. The outer border could be a plaid to give the hint of what's on the back. A bias plaid for binding would top it off well. Happy Quilting and hugs

IQ2

I made my husband a quilt using some of his old (beautiful) cotton shirts in the blocks, and I made cornerstones for the solid sashing out of the plaid fabrics, and also a scrappy border using several of the plaid fabrics. They actually worked the opposite of exploding head since they provided a straight cutting and sewing line....and mind you I was working from pieces of a shirt...sleeves, etc. I say go for it. I think you (and he) will love it.

QuiltnNan

i'm with oma... don't give yourself extra stress

Tartan

​You could try the plaid sashing but break up the sashing with cornerstones. Check to see if the plaid is printed straight before trying. Sometimes the plaid is printed crooked and no amount of cutting will allow the lines to look straight. Solid sashing and the plaid on the bias for binding would look good also.

Krisb

It is easy to keep the lines even horizontallly or vertically. the key is in the cutting. Cut along the limes of the plaid rather than using a ruler and rotary cutter. This will take longer. And use cornerstones as Tartan suggests. Finally, be sure that the plaid you buy is 1) woven, not printed and 2) symmetrical rather than asymmetrical. Here's how to tell:

http://www.sewing.org/files/guidelin...ing_plaids.pdf

If you have an asymmetrical plaid, you will need to be very careful in cutting and sewing the sashing, since you can't "interchange" horizontal sashing strips and vertical sashing strips. In short, yes you can, but it will take more time and more fabric (needed to match the plaids). I vote for a bias plaid binding.

alisonquilts

I like this, although I might toss in some plaid cornerstones. Thanks for the hugs!!

This sounds do-able!

Good advice on the possible problems with printed patterns (like my alliteration?!) - I think woven is the way to go. And you've registered another vote for solid sashing with cornerstones...a pattern is developing here.

Thanks you for that link! That was very helpful, and solidified several vague feelings I had had about plaids and their wily ways but had never really thought about. Excellent!

Alison

mom-6

Plaids (or stripes) are really simple to use as they have a built in straight line. That said, you do need to determine the repeat of the plaid if you are wanting uniformity.

And a squiggly plaid or stripe can make you fear you're going nuts!

If you use the plaid as sashing you will probably want to use solid cornerstones. Or vice versa.

NikkiLu

I used plaid sashing on a quilt a few years ago and thankfully, it was very straight. But, I did cut it out using only one layer at a time so that there wasn't any distortion.

Peckish

You could buy a plaid that is printed on the bias. It would lend visual interest and you wouldn't have to worry so much about keeping lines straight.

I just wanted to pass a tip along - one of my favorite ways of adding sashing to a quilt is to sew strips of sashing around each side of every block. When you assemble the rows into a top, all you have to do is make sure you match the seams. I find this much easier than sewing on long strips of sashing, then trying to make sure all the blocks line up exactly even.