Category: Techniques

Rainbow cushions

Every now and then, when it happens to catch my eye, I pick up a copy of Quilting magazine when I go to Tesco. Not long before the first lockdown, I got a copy with a couple of rainbow coloured designs on it. Inside, I found a fabulous design for a Somerset folded patchwork cushion.

Now I’m never very good at Origami. It requires a certain level of precision that I can’t maintain for very long. My attention tends to wander, and mistakes creep in. But this one had to be worth the effort.

The only other time I have attempted anything like this was in 1/12 scale, using tiddly bits of 1/4 inch wide ribbon. Every time I tried to sew anything down on that project, something moved ever so slightly and messed everything up. Once bitten, twice shy.

So it took me a long time to get round to it. I knew that once I started sorting my stash, I would get to a certain stage where there was mess everywhere. Inevitably, I wasn’t going to have all the colours I needed in my stash, and this isn’t the year for keeping an eye open for extras when out and about.

But a few weeks ago, I made a list of what I needed, and started the hunt for candidates. I needed 4 squares in various sizes of each of 8 colours. Well, there are four courners, and you need to join them along the sides with 4 more. To make that work with seven colours of the rainbow, indigo has been dropped, and turquoise and pink have been added.

As it turned out, I had almost all I needed. I needed a turquoise and a yellow, but as I didn’t need a specific match that was easy enough to rectify online.

Some of my squares are rectangles, but by using a bit of paper I worked out that as long as I had the correct measurement one way and more than half the measurement the other, it would work. The idea is to fold the square in half, then fold the top corners to the bottom edge to form a flying goose style triangle, and then layer them up to make the pattern. That means if one measurement is correct, and the other is long enough to hide the raw edge, you are in business.

Mostly, I’m very pleased with the way this turned out. I had a little trouble with the last two rounds of triangles. I have a feeling that the geometry wasn’t quite right, and it would have been better to cut the fabric a little larger. But it could easily be me not being accurate enough. It doesn’t matter, because I can live with the result. I have to look quite hard to see the problem.

I was particularly pleased with the way this random selection of fabrics worked together. I thought while I had them all out, I might do another of the designs. But the only one that would work with a cushion I’d got was 25 different half square triangles. I’m not keen on sewing bias cut edges together, so I like the various methods of making multiple half square triangle blocks at once. That would mean both sides of the cover being the same, which I wasn’t sure I wanted.

I’ve been looking at the hunters’star block for a while, and I thought I’d see if I could make it work for this. There are all sorts of methods for doing this block, including using a special ruler, and another that involves long bias cuts. Then I found this post about combining half square triangles and squares. I cut 3 coloured 3.5 inch squares and 3 white squares for each block, and ended up with a square of about 18 inches. The half square triangles were made four at a time, sewing all round the squares, and then cutting across both diagonals.

So what else can I do with these fabrics? I’ve been meaning to try wonky log cabin for a long time, so I did a block of that, and quilted it in a spiral.

I decided this one shouldn’t have a plain back, so I’ve sewn together some 2 1/2 inch strips, quilted with random lines. I think the two sides of this cushion work well together.

I briefly considered making another using a house block. I’ve seen one on Pinterest that just uses red and white fabrics, in 4 blocks.

I can’t quite get my head round translating this idea into many colours.

So for now, I’m quitting while I’m ahead. I’m now running out of boring cushions that came with the sofa!

Take-up, shrinkage, and elasticity

I’m a bit out of my depth here.

But this is important stuff that I need to learn.

Here is the techy stuff you need to know if you need to substitute yarns, especially when you are weaving.  All about take-up, shrinkage, and elasticity.

Making rope baskets

A while ago, I say something on YouTube about making rope baskets by sewing coils together on a sewing machine. Many years ago, I made a rag rug from plaited scraps of fabric. I sewed it by hand, and it was a very long and tedious job. It was hard to get the needle through the plaited fabric, and every time I put it down to check, the edges had started to curl upwards, so I had to undo some. That made me cautious, but the baskets do look nice.

I’ve got one of those Yorkshire Airers, that haul up into the ceiling out of the way. Owing to a lack of planning, the pulleys were in the wrong place, causing the rope to wear out in a couple of places. Once that problem was fixed, I’d got about 15 metres of suitable rope, most of which was sound. So I thought I would give it a try. I didn’t bother to cut out the frayed sections, as I thought it might add some character.

The result was this fruit bowl size piece. I wasn’t really planning to make anything in particular, I just wanted to know whether I could do it, and how far the rope would go. I like the basket, but it occurred to me that what I could do with was a yarn bowl, to keep balls under control while I’m warping the loom.

So I got some more rope, and built up the sides. I made the openings by finishing off the stitching, then leaving a small loop before starting to stitch again about an inch or two further on.  To try to keep the top edge level, once I had sewn round to the hole again, I cut the rope, and restarted again on the other side of the hole. That worked nicely. The addition to the original basket took 20 meteres of washing line. The whole thing is about 8 inches wide and 7 1/2 inches high.

Then I decided that it would be useful to have a really big basket, to hold all the bits and pieces for a project. This one is made from 100 metres of jute sash cord. I made the base about 16 inches in diameter, and then started moving upwards. When I thought I may get to the end fairly soon. I made some handles. This time, before I finished off sewing, I wrapped a piece of calico under the rope to give the handle some strength, rather than just relying on the thread. I left a loop of rope again, before starting to sew on the other side, with more calico to support the join. This enlarges the circumference of the top by the amount of the two handles. I went round the whole of the top again, including the handle loops, before repeating the gap procedure to return the top to the previous circumference. This makes handles that stick outwards, rather than the upwards ones shown on the video. I then carried on up the sides of the basket until I had used up all the sash cord. The result was about 16 inches high.

So what have I learned? For one thing, you need a lot of thread to zig zag these baskets together. And you have to be in the right mood. The work is either pleasantly absorbing or mind numbingly boring, depending on how you look at it. The hardest part was placing the handles. I didn’t manage to get mine opposite eachother, in spite of measuring several times. Oh well. I wanted a working item rather than something for display.

Don’t match your thread

Were you taught to match your thread to the fabric you were making up? Perhaps to use a shade slightly darker, so it blended in?

Well, according to this theory, you only need to keep a supply of neutral colours, which you can use with all sorts of projects.

How to sew a laced sleeve

I have to admit that I misread the title of this post. I thought it was about lace sleeves, and the problem of handling delicate fabrics.

So I was surprised when I saw the picture on the post. Still, it is a technique that might come in handy one day.

How to sew a laced sleeve.

How to sew piping the easy way

This is a post that will come in handy next time you are making cushions: an easy way to sew piping.

When I get round to making that rainbow cushion, I’ll give it a go…

 

Map samplers

A few years ago, the National Library of Scotland put on an exhibition about maps. As part of that, they published a post about map samplers, which I have only recently found, and I thought I would share.

I also thought I would share my own blackwork map. I traced a map from my school atlas onto graph paper, then used that as a cross stitch chart to work the coasts and county borders in back stitch. Each county has a different blackwork design to fill it. Finding enough designs was the hardest part. It was surprising how often I found a “new” pattern in a book, only to examine what I’d already done and find I had used it already.

As you would expect, the V&A also have some map samplers in their collection, along with plenty of other eye candy. Always worth a look!

 

Estimating the yarn for a woven scarf

I’m a novice weaver, so I like it when I find a down to earth post about the basics.

This one is going to be very handy when I’m out and see yarn that just needs to be bought. It explains how to estimate what you need to weave a scarf.

A quick way to make a block of squares

I like scrappy quilts. Small squares are a nice way of showing off lots of prints, but it can be time consuming.

This quick way of jumbling up the prints while quick piecing squares is definately one to remember.

Pattern singing in Iran “The Woven Sounds”

I love this video.

I like the fascinating traditional method of working together, and the way that the work just carries on at the side of an ordinary room.

I like the way the stock of wools hanging behind them, and the deft use of knives.stock hanging behind them, deft use of the knives.

Then, of course, just look at the colours and the graph paper patterns.

Wonderful stuff!