A new life for my mother's knitted cotton bedspread?

Some years ago, my mother knit this cotton bedspread for me.  She loved to knit, the more complicated the pattern the better.  I used the bedspread for some time, but eventually put it aside.  It is quite heavy, and difficult to manipulate on the bed.  But a few weeks ago, I decided I was tired of the quilt I had on the bed, and pulled this out, to see if I'd want to use it again.

Alas, I discovered that there were a number of large holes in the spread, not just the stretched areas where blocks come together (easy to repair), but other places where the thread had unravelled within a block.  I must have washed the quilt with bleach, trying to remove a few small stains, one of which is visible towards the center of the photo.  The bleach not only didn't work on the stain, but I think it continued to eat away at the fabric.  Having done a little discharge work using bleach, I now know how important it is to rinse the bleach out of the fabric with anti-chlor, not just water, as the bleach will otherwise keep working away.  I've been thinking that I would do the best I could to "darn" the holes closed, but I've been putting it off, reluctant to do the work when I'm not sure I would enjoy the bedspread (for the same reasons I stopped using it before).  I thought about cutting the bedspread up to use for something else, but could think of no garment or other item that would work.

Then today, I got another idea when reading India Flint's book Second Skin: Choosing and Caring for Textiles and Clothing, which I picked up to follow up on the element of Dorothy Caldwell's work that has to do with mending and re-purposing fabrics.  Maybe I can cut out the blocks of the bedspread, stitch them onto another fabric, and put them back together again in some way as a bedspread.  Having a more stable fabric underneath will make the bedspread easier to handle (though will add to the weight).  To lessen the weight, I could make the whole thing somewhat smaller, or use fewer knitted blocks and add plain fabric between them.  India Flint's book mentions repurposing old linens, which I have an enormous supply of (inherited from my mother and my aunt)--maybe I could use some of these for the backing.  I pulled out a linen napkin, and did a quick trial, without cutting anything from the spread.  I've placed the napkin on the back of the spread:

Here's a close-up of the quick running stitch I did.  It's invisible on the front.

I need to think about this quite a bit more before making the irrevocable move of cutting into the spread. Any thoughts/ideas would be most welcome.

Here's another photo of the bedspread, showing how four knitted squares are sewn together into a large block, and also a bit of the scalloped border.

Here's the pattern my mother used, Mrs. Coolidge's Great-Grandmother's Counterpane (double-click on any photo to enlarge):

Here's a close-up of the end of the pattern.  yes, 216 different rows in each square.

And lo and behold, the pattern is available on the great knitting site, Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/grace-coolidge-counterpane-motif

Great use for multi-color hand-dyed fabric--and a tutorial for 2-layer receiving blankets

I found a great way to use the multi-colored hand-dyed pieces that I did a week ago--I can use them for one side of a two-layer receiving blanket (other side is flannel).  I've made these before, but using commercial fabric for both sides.  See this post for a description of the blanket and why it makes a great baby gift.  It's also less time-consuming than making an actual quilt, and using the hand-dyed fabric will still give it a personal touch.

Here are two more; all three of these were made with flannel that I had purchased to go with some commercial fabric I had on hand, but that's now back in my stash.

The next one has some applique patches added, because the fabric (an inexpensive muslin) had some holes in it after the washout.

 Here are instructions for the blanket--very simple!

TWO-LAYER RECEIVING BLANKET

Material: 

1-1/4 yd flannel

1-1/4 yd cotton (not flannel) 

1.       Prewash and dry the fabrics.

2.       The flannel:  Cut off the selvages, and then trim the other edges.  You'll end up with something about about 42" square. Anything around this size is fine; no need for the width to be exactly the same as the length.

3.       The cotton:  Cut off the selvages, but leave the rest untrimmed.  (This piece of fabric should be a little larger than the flannel.)  Pin the cotton to a design wall, wrong side of fabric towards the wall.  Smooth it out well, pinning it to the wall at about 6" intervals.

4.       Placing the layers together:  Put the flannel up against the cotton, right sides together.  Stick pins into the two layers all around.  (You can move pins from sticking up the cotton to pierce both layers—but leave 2 or 3 pins across the top edge of the cotton fabric as well.)  Do not try to match the edges of the two fabrics.  Just be sure there is a bit of the cotton fabric sticking out beyond the flannel, all the way around.  (If need be, you can cut down the flannel a bit.)  Then go around pin the two fabrics together, preparing them to be sewn on the machine.  When all is pinned, take the two layers off the wall and bring to the machine.

5.       Sewing the layers:  Sew around the edge of the two layers with a half-inch seam, measuring from the cut edge of the flannel, and leaving an opening large enough for your hand to go through.*

6.       Trim: Put the sewn blanket on the cutting table, flannel side up.  Take your rotary cutter and trim the cotton so that it's even with the flannel—no need for a ruler, you can just do this by eye.  Then trim the corners a bit so there's less bulk when turning.

7.       Turn: Turn the blanket, pushing out the corners carefully—no need to get a sharp point!  Iron the seams flat.  No need to sew the opening closed by hand—it will get closed in the next step.

8.       Topstitch: Topstitch around the edge of the blanket, starting a few inches before the opening.  I top-stitch 5/16" from the edge (this is the measurement of my all-purpose foot).**

*I have rounded the corners on one or two of the blankets I've made, including the one at the top of this post (marking a curved line with a small plate), but I like better the ones I've made with a regular 90-degree corner.

**I have used a decorative stitch for the topstitching a couple of times (photo below), but I prefer the look and feel of a plain straight-stitch, and it's faster too.

Dyeing folded fabric--fun!

Last weekend, I had some friends over for an evening of dyeing fabric, in preparation for which I mixed up quite a lot of dye in advance, way more than we had time to use.  Having this much dye on hand, and wanting to make use of it while the colors remain true (which gives me about 2-3 weeks), I've been motivated to do some experimenting with using multiple colors on folded fabric, something I've not done much of, as I use mostly solids and close-to-solids in my quilting.  But I thought of a good use for this other sort of dyeing--I can use the whole piece (about 42" square) for the back of a baby quilt.  Or, I can more simply just back the fabric with some flannel and make it into a receiving blanket.
The fabric at the top of the page is my favorite.  The fabric was pushed into parallel folds, and then I manipulated the resulting "rope" into double-S.  The red, purple, and blue dye then ended up being at 90-degrees to the lines of the folds.  Adding black here and there gives extra depth and a bit of mystery.  I won't be giving away this piece!  Some details (double-click on any photo for a larger size):

The next one was folded in lines, the same as the first, but not put in an "S," and no black was used.  I swapped out the blue for teal.  I chose the colors for the various pieces based on a few different flannels I have on hand that I can use for the backing.  This piece is also nice, but not as dramatic.

I did another where the fabric was folded in half, and then the sides pushed down, kind of like a folded umbrella.  Yellow at the point of the "umbrella", then blue and green.

Only problem with this one is that the fabric was an inexpensive muslin, and I didn't see the holes in it until the dyeing was done (or maybe they developed in the process)--there are several more holes like this pair:

I think I'll have to cut up this piece to use it, rather than leave it whole.

The fourth piece is quite nice.  Again I began with a linear fold, but then I manipulated the "rope" into a spiral.  I put yellow in the center, then blue, then green.

And here are a couple of photos from the results of the evening session of dyeing, first the fabric:

and the quilters, very happy with the results: Sharon, Jill, Janis, and Mary Beth.

"Union Station" quilt complete

I'm very happy with this quilt!  The fabric is all hand-dyed by me (dyeing discussed here).  The pattern is "Union Station" by Janine Burke, published in Colorful Quilts, by Amy Walsh and Janine Burke.  The back is one large piece of hand-dyed fabric.

Here's a close-up of the quilting.  I chose a dark charcoal thread; I like how the design disappears in the black stripes.

I came up with the quilting pattern, a meander with mostly sharp corners but some curves thrown in.  My sample is on the left below (beige fabric).  I gave this sample to Mary Walck, my go-to long-arm quilter.  She did a great job with the quilting, but it's also interesting to me that even while she was following my design, it has her own "signature"--quilting is like hand-writing that way.

For the binding, I did a machine-stitched binding, sewn first onto the back and then flipped to the front.  I used a "faux-piped binding" method that involves piecing two binding strips together, resulting in a small flange on the front of the binding.  

The method is designed for having the flange in a contrasting color, but if you do both strips the same color, it still has the advantage of giving you a very clear line to follow when doing the top-stitching on the front, and the stitching gets buried in the seam.  This was my first try at using all one color--I like it!  Thanks to fellow Galesburg quilt guild member, Ron Bishop, for telling us about this method, and for suggesting doing it with all one color.  The next photo shows how the binding looks on the front of the quilt (lower horizontal) and how it looks on the back (upper).  One does end up with a line of straight stitching around the edge of the back.  I forgot to put thread in the bobbin to match the green of the background fabric, which would have made it less noticeable.  But being the same color as the rest of the quilting, it still looks OK.

Organizing the wet studio

The wet studio (for dyeing/painting/printing fabric) is definitely not as pleasant an environment as the sewing studio upstairs.  Nonetheless, I'm lucky to have a basement with plenty of space, a concrete floor, convenient electricity, and a large, deep double sink.  This is the main table I work on, here covered with an array of stuff I've been accumulating since starting to take classes on screen printing, stamping, discharge, etc.  Working further with the new techniques was being hampered by the difficulty of finding what I needed, so it was time to get organized.  I laid it all out on the table, and then organized things in plastic or cardboard containers.  Multi-use tools that could be used for more than one technique (like cotton twine and sponges) got their own box.  Here are a couple of the newly organized shelves:

And on another shelf, I have most of what I need for regular dyeing and painting.

The plastic shelving is from Walmart--much easier to put together than the metal shelving I've used for decades, and it won't rust.

I've got a new project in mind that will involve both printing and discharge, so this was a necessary first step.  I've got a week or two of work to do on "Regret" to get it ready for quilting.  Once that is all prepared, I'll move on to the next project.  The deadline is related to the weather--discharge needs to be done when it's warm enough to work outside. . .

Four-Patch Stacked Posie quilts

It seems I haven't posted photos of this quilt, one of my favorites, made about a year ago.  It's about 40" square, and I've it hung in a place where I see it every day.   This is about the 7th quilt I've made from the "Four-Patch Stacked Posie" pattern, which is basically a method of cutting up one central fabric so that each block is made from four identical segments of the fabric.  Most people do this quilt from floral fabrics, and I've done some like that, but I also like what happens with a geometric or other kinds of abstract prints.  Here's a close-up, so that you can see how the block is constructed.  I am very happy with the quilting I did on this piece--in-the-ditch quilting around and through the center lines of each block, and then loose, overlapping squares in the white sashing.  The black border was left unquilted, to emphasize its role as a frame.  I think the narrow striped binding also works well; it was cut from an unevenly-striped fabric. (As always, click on the photo for a larger view.)

Here's the fabric, before it was cut up:

Added July 21--This was actually the second 4-patch quilt I made with the red/white/black fabric.  Here's another, which I also like, but not as much as the one with white sashing.  Some of the individual blocks are especially nice; my favorites are the bottom right corner and the left hand column, two center blocks.

And here are some other 4-patch quilts I've made.  I think the multi-color sashing is a big plus in this one, which went to my sister.

I made this one for my friend Kay.  There's a photo of the fabric before cutting at the end of this post.

The next one won a prize in the local quilt show a few years ago.  I was surprised, because it's a pretty straightforward rendering of a simple pattern.  I think the judge had seen so many of these in floral prints, that she rewarded the use of a different type of fabric.  And I do think the black and white sashing was a good choice.  I originally tried out various bright colors, but the predominantly white fabric works well with the multi-color blocks.

Here's a photo of the original fabric (on the right) and some of the blocks:

Here's one from a more traditional fabric.  I like this color combination very much--it introduced me to the pleasure of magenta.  This quilt is on our bed.

The next one was made as a high school graduation present for a good friend.  The sashing is some of my hand-dyed fabric.

And here's the first one I made, as a wedding present for another young friend.  This one was done without the narrow frame around each block, as I was aiming for a more overall look to the pattern.

Using African and South Asian fabrics

A good friend of mine has travelled a good deal in Africa and South Asia, bringing back fabric from each trip.  She has used much of it, but a large pile has been sitting in the attic for years, and she decided to give it away.  I was the lucky recipient!  Some is in large flat pieces, other is clothing that I have cut up.

I talked with my friend about what I could make for her from the fabrics, and we decided on placemats.  While each fabric is beautiful, I found it a challenge to combine them.  I've made three placemats so far; I will show them to her, and then make 3 more, according to her preference.  

On the left--using the largest variety of fabric, including some solids.
In the middle--using the most closely-related selection of fabric
On the right--tighter range than the first, but wider than the second; detail of this one below.