Ah the challenges of sustainable quilting!! I started quilting as a hobby last year. Its not proper quilting as I don't own a sewing machine and I don't like the idea of measuring and cutting things straight. So I've been getting bits of quilting fabric from ebay and cutting them into large squares or triangles and sewing them together. They usually don't join where they are meant to and if there are gaps, I plug the gap with a scrap of other fabric. Sounds weird, but I'm getting a kick out of it.
Anyway, I have 3 quilts on the go. Q1 'Butterflies and Batik', Q2 'Cats and Lighthouses' and Q3 'Medieval Playing Cards'. Q1 I'm currently quilting the front layer onto some polyester batting. Next step is to buy some fabric for the backing and quilt that on as well. I was going to go to Spotlight and get some quilting cotton for the backing, but in light of the Rules, I decided to get something more sustainable. I ended up with some rust coloured fabric made of wild nettle, bamboo and cotton from the online shop Bamboo Fabric Store. I only ordered it yesterday so it hasn;'t arrived yet, and it won't be wide enough so I'll boost it up with some fabric from ebay. But I really like it. So Q1 is on track -woohoo!!!!
Q2 is at the stage where I am sewing the front panels together. Next step is to buy the batting. Since I'm doing this challenge, instead of using polyester, I'm going to get some unbleached cotton batting from the online shop Autumn Threads. They also have some quilting threads that are to die for, so I might have to breach the Rules and get a reel of thread as well (oops).
Q3 is just at the beginning. As its the last quilt I will make (we only have 3 beds in the house so only need 3 quilts) I chose an obscure subject in the hope that it will take me ages to source the fabrics for it. I want to string it out for as long as I can. Unfortunately I managed to find 3 pieces on ebay last week, so I might not look again for a while. Its so much fun trawling ebay for interesting fabrics that I want to delay finishing this part for as long as possible.
Anyway, I might post pictures of them when they are finished. Go the sustainable quilts - woohoo!!!!
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3 comments:
oh I can't wait to see the pics! I have no clue where to start with quilting but its definitely on my list of things to learn in 2008. I have so many fabric offcuts, I would love to learn how to use them all properly!
NO! You can't tell us all about your quilts and then make us wait until you finish them to show us photos. Not fair! *raspberry*
Ha ha!! Okay I might try and work out how to attach photos and take some piccies of the half finished quilts. But remember...lower your expectations...!!!
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