My Little Brown Bird Project
#152
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: The Deep South near Cajun Country, USA
Posts: 5,434
I love how you are truly making this quilt your own with the addition of additional flowers, or birds, or butterflies. Your quilt will truly be one of a kind and an heirloom.
#153
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: The Deep South near Cajun Country, USA
Posts: 5,434
I Googled Little Brown Bird to get a picture in my head of what the entire quilt would look like when finished and how big it would be. I found this very interesting post by Margaret Solomon Gunn. She illuminated some problems she had while trying to quilt a beautiful Little Brown Bird quilt. https://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/20...rown-bird.html
Since I do my own long arm quilting, am still doing pantographs-not beautiful like Margaret's, I have taken tucks and nips where ever I needed to when fixing a slightly ruffly border. The border on the Little Brown Bird quilt, if made as designed, does not allow that. The applique on the border is heavy and gorgeous. The thing I realized quickly while reading the post was any triangles with the bias on the outside edge could exponentially stretch unless heavily starched, stay stitched or cut differently to have a firm edge on the outside and could create major problems later. Lordy, there is stuff to be learned about piecing and quilting every time I read something.
Since I do my own long arm quilting, am still doing pantographs-not beautiful like Margaret's, I have taken tucks and nips where ever I needed to when fixing a slightly ruffly border. The border on the Little Brown Bird quilt, if made as designed, does not allow that. The applique on the border is heavy and gorgeous. The thing I realized quickly while reading the post was any triangles with the bias on the outside edge could exponentially stretch unless heavily starched, stay stitched or cut differently to have a firm edge on the outside and could create major problems later. Lordy, there is stuff to be learned about piecing and quilting every time I read something.
#155
I found this very interesting post by Margaret Solomon Gunn. She illuminated some problems she had while trying to quilt a beautiful Little Brown Bird quilt. https://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/20...rown-bird.html.
Barb in Louisiana, thank you for a very interesting and somewhat terrifying blog. I knew from the very beginning that the LBB would be a monster to quilt but I had not even thought of some of the problems Margaret laid out in her article. I do all of my quilting on my Janome Memory Craft 7100 desk top machine and can usually get a handle on any ruffling before it becomes to much of a problem, but I have never worked with a quilt as big as this one with the 10" border. I may want to consider an alternate border or perhaps a downsized version of the pattern. I know my limitations and if I were to have the same problems with my LBB I would have to simply put it away never to be seen again, because I wouldn't have a clue as to how to 'fix' it. Oh boy, as I said in an earlier post...this quilt is driving me crazy.
I hope NanaUpNorth sees your link because she is almost finished with her own Little Brown Bird.
Thanks again for the link.
#156
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: The Deep South near Cajun Country, USA
Posts: 5,434
Sewing Senior, It would break my heart for you to not finish that beautiful quilt you are making. I figured that forewarned could help make this quilt the spectacular heirloom that it should and can be. I would never have thought of all the stuff that happened with that lady's quilt. I didn't want it to happen to you. I so much look forward to seeing your finished product. I do not applique by hand and will never make anything like this wonderful quilt. Kudos to you!
Last edited by Barb in Louisiana; 07-30-2020 at 06:41 PM.