Ellen 1

I’m thinking if you sleep alone it would be ok, but if you share the bed with someone else.....my husband has ALL the quilt each morning. I am lucky if I get enough to cover my hips and touch the mattress. Just thinking....if it is a cold night, you may end up with the thin edge of the quilt. :-)

youngatheart

Thank you for your kind welcome
I have just taken a photo of my patchwork bed cover for all of you to see.
The drop that you see on the ground is the same at the other side of the clothes line and on the left of the photo is the drop for the bottom of the bed.

Please remember it is my first and only patchwork bedspread I have made, and I must admit as my cover got larger and larger I did wonder whether I was digging a big hole for myself instead of starting off with something more simple.

I originally wanted a full quilt and designed the pattern to fit my bed, but very soon after completing the cover I became a full time carer.
Now 5 yrs later I have a chance to finish it off

After reading all of your replies I'm wondering if I am just taking the easy way out in not completing the quilt as I wanted it in the beginning.

So here are the facts .. my sewing machine is a Janome MC 4900 which may cause me problems in dealing with a large quilt, and the other thing is I cannot go down the easier method of sewing in the ditch as my seams have been pressed open.
Go on say it "I've definitely put myself in at the deep end"[ATTACH=CONFIG]600041[/ATTACH]

nativetexan

when i have one like that, i tend to stitch diagonally through the squares. looks great and is fairly easy. i have a Janome MC4800 with a six inch throat space.

youngatheart

Hi nativetexan
If I can make it work that would be great, I will have to check out my wadding now to what I need

wildyard

I did something similar to what you are suggesting but I did it by adding a purchased bed ruffle to the sides of my quilt. I was lucky to find one at the thrift store, brand new and matching the type fabrics I used in the quilt, which was a stack and whack pattern. I will try to explain what I did, lol.
First, I did the sewing birthing style, with only a sheet for backing as I wanted mine lightweight. OK, so: I layered it thusly; if you want batting, spread it flat as the bottom layer. Next lay the pieced top out flat, right side up. Next place your sidepanels facing inside the backing; line up the seam edges with the top edges. Now lay your backing, right side down on top of the panels. And pin, pin, pin the edges together. Stitch around the edges being sure to catch all layers and leaving an opening at the bottom for turning your layers right side out. When you turn it, the seam will be on the inside with the batting and the backing, top and panels will be on the outside. You will lose the width of the seam from the panels, but it shouldn't be noticable.
Mine was still a little too short, so I added a wide lace to the bottom of the ruffle. It's not perfect, but I was pretty happy with the results. Oh yes, I forgot to add the ruffle came with two pillow shams!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]600044[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]600045[/ATTACH]

Rose_P

There's no reason I can think of why you can't make it any way you prefer. Maybe you'll start a trend. It would certainly be easier to handle a large quilt on a domestic sewing machine if the edges were not full of batting, and if you have a warm climate, there isn't that much need for the extra warmth that would come from having it made the conventional way.

When I was a kid, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we'd often seen commercial bedspreads in the Sears and Wards catalogs that had quilted tops with gathered skirts attached.

I like the colors you chose. Welcome to the board! Hope you'll hang around and show more pictures of your work.

mac

The only thing that I would be concerned about is the shrinkage between the top and the sides. Would it shrink at the same rate or would one the edges bunch up more/less than the top? My suggestion would be to make a small sample using the same fabrics and on one side put wadding and the other no wadding. Wash and dry the sample and see what happens. You can determine what your quilt will do from the sample.