Retro quilt complete.

My retro quilt on our queen sized bed - what was supposed to be a smallish lap quilt for the couch turned out bigger than expected!

It is too hot again today to do any sewing (why does it only get this hot on the weekends?!?). I finished my retro quilt top and thought I would share a few photos with you. I know these photos don't look much different to the photos I posted before of just the quilt top, but trust me it's finally finished :-)

It's hard to imagine ever needing a quilt as I type this in the final month of summer, but I know winter will creep up much too quickly and I will soon be thanking myself I have this beauty to lie under.

As it is so hot and we don't have air conditioning, I decided to finish this quilt by tying instead of hand quilting (that is more of a winter hobby!). Just like handing quilting and machine quilting, tying is a well used quilting technique. The technique itself dates back hundreds of years, and is a way of finishing off quilts that are made to be used and are needed quickly. While I did not need this quilt quickly, it will definitely be one will be in regular use this winter - it will be a 'snuggle under a quilt on the couch' quilt.

I decided to tie my knots so they created a decorative 'x' on the quilt top, with the knot fastened on the underside. An alternative way to tie a quilt is using a basic reef knot.

For the backing fabric I used a yellow and white daisy printed sheet I found in a thrift store last month. I had enough of the fabric left over to also use some for binding the quilt, which turned out to look quite nice.

I hand stitched the binding down to give it a neat look. I am thrilled with how easy this project was, and the fact that I was able to make a quilt completely out of vintage fabrics!

If you are wondering where I sourced the amazing fabrics I used for the quilt top, I purchased them all from Etsy shop Zwizzle at a very reasonable price.

Sam xox

Sewing homework - prepping for the triathlon.

For homework this week I have been organising myself for the sewing triathlon Mill and I will be having Sunday to Tuesday. Three days and two nights of sewing! I have 6 projects I am aiming to complete:

1) Simplicity 2656 Skirt

2) Another Pendrell Blouse

3) McCalls 5861 Bikini

4) Retro Quilt

5) Madeline Mini Bloomers (free pattern)

6) 1920's Chemise Inspired Top (free pattern)

I have now laid out all the items needed for each project, and for sewing in general, on my spare bed...

Bikini ready to be made!

Only missing pocket lining for this skirt.

The very cute buttons I found for the pockets!

Retro quilt top and backing fabric (a sheet).

Sewing Bible!

Love this pattern.

These will be my cute pajamas for summer.

Close-up of the chemise top.

The total so far! So excited!

Looking at all the projects laid out like this gives me butterflies. Sunday just cannot get here fast enough!

I still need to buy a few final things for the day:

- Pocket lining for the skirt (in grey)

- Blouse fabric

- Quilt wadding

- White thread to tie the quilt with

- 1 yard bloomer fabric (in silk, chiffon, or georgette)

- 2 1/2 yard ribbon for bloomers

- 2 1/2 yard elastic for bloomers

- 2 yards of silk for the chemise top

- 1 1/2 yard antique-look lace for chemise top

- 1 1/2 yard ribbon for chemise top

- Sewing thread to match the above

Phew. Wish me luck!

Sam xox

Retro quilt top complete.

Sam xox

Retro quilt top.

Have you been wondering why you haven't seen much action from the retro square quilt top I was planning to make? I spent hours musing over which combination of fabrics to use for the quilt top. I arranged them in different ways. I tried different colour combinations, but nothing felt right (all you quilters out there know how this feels right?!). I have since worked out why. All the fabrics I bought were mostly orange, yellow, green or purple and all were medium to large print florals. The result being that the squares all seemed to blur into each other. See what I mean?

Anyone who has made a quilt will (hopefully) know the rule of having 10% pizazz! Thats right, 10% of your quilt top should be made up of a fabric that does not match the rest of your quilt. It creates a pleasing contrast without taking away from the overall look of the quilt. I hit etsy in search of pizazz and these four fabrics are now on their way to me, ready to make my quilt top complete!

Not all florals, not all orange. Perfect. Fabrics from PoppysRoom (sister shop to Zwizzle).

Sam xox

Too much of a good thing.

When you log into your etsy account, and it reminds you to leave feedback for 20 items, you know you are in for a treat. I have been falling in love with the fabrics featured in Frankie magazine, and have been thinking (hard) about making a simple tied quilt made from 8" squares of vintage florals. I turned to etsy to satisfy this urge and discovered Zwizzle, a store that sells the most amazing retro fabrics that are cut to a really useful size (fat quarters or larger).

Zwizzle were having a sale, so I purchased 20 fabrics, and because they are based in Australia I only had to wait 2 days for the parcel to arrive!

My photographs did not do their packaging justice! The photo above was taken before my parcel was sent (it is now featured in each listing) and shows the beautiful packing details so much better than my photos did. Brown paper tied with fabric strips. Perfect.

Unwrapping my parcels I found that I had been sent 5 extra fat quarters plus the two doilies! Such an awesome surprises. You can see that I have already put one doily to use under my vase.

Some of the beautiful fabrics.

Watch this space. This quilt is going to be super quick to make and I want it finished this month. I think I will either use a light weight batting or no batting at all, as it is intended as a summer quilt. I need to find a nice sheet from a thrift store to back it with, and some thick white thread to tie the quilt together. I also need to decide how big I want to make it. I am planning on doing the cutting tonight, and if time allows, I might even get the quilt top sewn.

Thanks again Zwizzle, you made my week!

Sam xox