19 September 2012

The adventures of quilting to a deadline

I decided to make a quilt.


I also decided to set myself a deadline. 

Why? You ask. Why make it more stressful for yourself? The answer is pretty simple. Quilts can be fiddly and time consuming. I started one over a month ago and picked it up and put it down so many times that I grew out of love with it. I knew that to stay motivated I had to give myself a time restraint...

Three days. Three days from beginning to end. A quilt from scratch. It is so possible, it would just take some serious motivation. 


The motivation came in the form of putting my intention out on instagram. I made my deadline public. Therefore I knew I couldn't fail. I couldn't say "Oh hey sorry guys, I couldn't be bothered to finish it!" I HAD to. ( Disclaimer: I enjoy working to a deadline. A time limit pushes me. I know for others it is a course of stress and worry. This is just how I work!)

You know what? It was so much fun. I got up early and worked on it. I thought about how I was going to quilt it. I took an idea and ran with it. I didn't have the time to try and make it perfect or worry about exactly how it should look. In a very strange way it was quite freeing. 


I documented the whole process through my instagram photos. It was exciting to see the quilt visually progress from scraps of fabric to one big piece. 


The quilt has a lot of meaning for me. The boy and I picked out the fabric together. It will be my last big project before I head off to uni and it is a little bit of comfort and home to put in my new room. 


The details: ( for those of you interested in the how

I kept the design of the quilt top simple. I bought five fabrics in 30cm pieces. I then cut each one into strips which were 6" wide. 

Really simply I grabbed each of these strips and chopped them up into all different sized pieces. I then muddled the pieces up and put them back together in long rows and sewed them together. 


I have always struggled with making the quilt sandwich so this time decided to try something new. I quilted the quilt top to the batting by stitching "in the ditch" of each row. I then put the quilt top right sides together with the backing fabric and sewed all the way round the edge leaving an opening to turn the quilt inside out. 

The edges turned out really neat and there was no need for binding. I just pressed and then top stitched them. I then hand sewed the opening of the quilt closed after I had added my initials. 



I was going to go over the whole thing and quilt the front more securely to the back but I felt it didn't need it. 

Such a fun project and really easy! 

Can you make a quilt from scratch in three days? Why yes, yes you can!


Thank you for stopping by and thank you to everyone who followed the quilts progress on instagram! 


8 comments:

scrappyjacky said...

The quilt is lovely,Abi.
I work much better to a deadline as well.....otherwise I'm just constantly finding excuses to do something else.....a quilt in 3 days is pretty impressive though.

Sian said...

The colours are so fresh and pretty! You'll have to take a picture of it in your new room.

Jobs definitely expand to fit the time you have available. Working to a deadline works for me - I usually need someone else to set it though!

Beverly said...

I love the design, the colors and the fact that you and the Boy chose the fabrics together. Deadlines are one of my few motivators lol

humel said...

Oh, wow - I'm seriously impressed! It's just beautiful, and that you only needed 3 days to do it? Just wow, that's all :)

Miss Smith said...

This is gorgeous, I love your sense of colour and style. Just wonderful.

I took a handmade quilt to uni as well, only made by my Mum. I couldn't patchwork then :D It's definitely lovely to have a little piece of home to curl up in.

Sinead said...

Wow, I just love this Abi, seriously impressed :D The colours and design are beautiful... I have wanted to learn to use a sewing machine and quilt forever, and you've just increased that desire! If I lived anywhere near you, I would be begging you for lessons ;) x

Abi said...

Thank you! I would love to give lessons- how fun would that be! Hopefully within the next week or so I will be posting about how to sew a really simple cushion cover. Basics instructions so look out for that!

Sinead said...

Brilliant! Looking forward to that, thanks Abi! :D x