my huge upholstery fabric quilt
02-23-2013, 11:32 AM
#26
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Winston-Salem NC
Posts: 659
Thank you all for your kind words! I like it, but I am VERY glad it is finished...
The purple background fabric is a very short pile velvet with that weird rubbery backing that upholstery fabric sometimes has. No idea what the fiber is (if I did the flame test I'd probably have to evacuate the neighborhood...so many synthetics!). I actually placed the blocks so that the grain would contrast between the circle blocks and the square blocks...but the pile was so low that by the time everything was finished you can't really see any directionality to it. Oh well.
The fabrics my client gave me are awesome - she has a good eye for colors, and all but one of the 9 fabrics she gave me played well together.
I know!! Her legs will go to sleep before she does at night!
My machine is a Kenmore 385 from the early '80s - mechanical, and a real workhorse. She hasn't balked at anything I've tried yet, and I honestly can't imagine doing anything heavier than this beast!
One of the hardest parts of doing this quilt was getting accurate seams - the fabrics were all different thicknesses so I was never sure how much I would lose in a seam allowance. This didn't matter much for the blocks, because I made them over-large and trimmed them to the size I wanted, but when I sewed the blocks together the pieced part ended up 2" smaller in each direction than I had planned...because even though the seams were sewn at 1/4 inch they ended up using 1/2 inch with fabric thickness (does that make sense?) Live and learn...
Alison
Originally Posted by BrendaK
WOW. Is that velvet? Looks to me like you did a great job. I am also glad for you that your client was local. BrendaK
Originally Posted by nativetexan
OH my goodness, it's lovely!!!! i made one with upholstery fabrics long ago. wish i'd thought of doing it like this. great quilt!!
Originally Posted by thimblebug6000
It is gorgeous! Hope she likes a weighted feel.... 15 lbs, whew!
Originally Posted by GailG
You did an awesome job!! Is your DSM OK? I did a heavy quilt on mine and knocked the timing out of whack.
Originally Posted by fxsts93kf
Fantastic design! Your quilt is beautiful! I would love to know what workhorse of a DSM you have that stood up to all that! My older machines would have been OK but my newer Pfaff would have died on the spot!
One of the hardest parts of doing this quilt was getting accurate seams - the fabrics were all different thicknesses so I was never sure how much I would lose in a seam allowance. This didn't matter much for the blocks, because I made them over-large and trimmed them to the size I wanted, but when I sewed the blocks together the pieced part ended up 2" smaller in each direction than I had planned...because even though the seams were sewn at 1/4 inch they ended up using 1/2 inch with fabric thickness (does that make sense?) Live and learn...
Alison
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