I’d love to be a “modern quilter”. The geometric patterns defined by strong solid colors, accentuated by punches of fresh, lively prints, is the style to which I now aspire. I’ve been through my primitive phase and my reproduction phase and now, all I want to do is create modern quilts.
But, let’s face it. CREATE is the operative word here, and well, I’ve never been considered modern in my life. While I try, my home doesn’t look like a Pottery Barn catalog, and I can’t really buy any clothing without the input from one of my two style-savvy daughters; they keep me age-appropriate and free of “mom jeans”. Looking back, modern has never been a word used to describe me. I wore hand-me-downs, so my clothing was never “modern”. I have really bad, bushy hair, and wore pigtails even in high school. Trust me, even in the 70s, this was not considered “modern”. But, I try hard, and I can copy pretty well, so I figured, modern quilting shouldn’t be too challenging. After all, I have a store full of contemporary fabrics and the internet can be my university. I felt success was the only outcome.
I’ve “stalked” the modern quilters via their blog for a quite some time. Lord knows if I got hooked on that Pinterest, I’d have hundreds of quilts “pinned”. But, for now, I’m refraining from anther time waster, instead focusing on actually sewing. Inspired by Jaybird Quilts, Fresh Lemons, Film in the Fridge and other quilters of the same style, I armed myself with some interesting grey, blue, turquoise combination of just 5 fabrics and a simple pattern. Of course, I chose the requisite solid color to set off the “modern” combo, Moda’s Bella Solid in Parchment.
Cutting and sewing is pretty simple and I have plenty of tools to get the job done properly. I have a quarter inch foot with and without the guide for my Baby Lock Esante machine. And, I have a vast array of squares and rulers. Just so you know, these items make no guarantee for your success. I’ve quilted for a long time and have done really complex blocks and quilts and many of them turned out beautifully. It’s really a shame I didn’t photograph all of my projects, but those of you who know me also know that I never remember to bring my camera anywhere.
I need 16 blocks for this quilt, all measuring 10″ finished. How fortunate that I have a 10 1/2″ square. I squared each block as I pieced, and even with that attention to size, I don’t know if I had one block that was exactly square AND exactly 10 1/2″. That being said, I forged ahead, knowing I could straighten up my rows by sewing them together in pairs and squaring those as I pieced them together. The finished quilt top would measure 40 1/2″ square before I put on the binding. Okay, so I was close. I had half of the blocks sewn together and went down to finish the other half during my weekly Sunday sewing time. Viola! In no time, I had both halves of the quilt together. Or did I? Yes, you can see if you pay attention to this photo, that I sewed the halves together upside down. So, I had to tear them apart and re-sew. What you may not be able to tell, is that I really paid attention to the “random” layout of the blocks, trying to distribute the darks and lights randomly. Well, if you can’t tell that, it’s because when I sewed them together, I got them a tad mixed up and so, my random plan is really random, and thus, not well distributed. So much for my planning. Again, I forge ahead.
What, no 505 spray? You forgot to bring a can home again from the store? You’ve only been out of this spray for a month or so….
No matter. I pin using my clever fork pins and iron the 3 layers together. Ironing really seems to semi-bond the layers together pretty well, especially if you steam. It is a small baby quilt, so I feel confident that there won’t be any puckers. I even locate my shank adaptor for my walking foot (see, I have an older Esante) and wind a bobbin. I’m so anxious to do some “modern quilting” and stumbled upon a great tutorial from Tallgrass Prairie Studio. I love the random distances between the straight lines. I think it’ll be just modern enough to coexist with the pieced blocks. I dig out my quilting guide, so I can keep my rows straight and I’m off to quilt!
For about 1/3 of the quilt, that is. I ran out of thread! I’ll be off to the store later today to get another spool of that nearly white thread, but thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far about modern quilting.
- Even if you are not inherently modern, you should still be able to pull this look off. Copy others. Join the Modern Quilt Guild of Central Illinois.
- I figure variegated quilting thread is not too modern. Use solid thread.
- Keep your eye AHEAD of where you want your sewing to go, even with the quilting bar. I found that after I watched the bar lay along the previous line of stitching, I often had to blink or something and lost my place. It was easier to stay straight by imagining the straight line the bar was riding in.
- Keep everything smooth. Of course.
- Try not to bleed on the fabric. Lots of these modern quilts are set into white or off-white and sometimes, I stick my finger when I’m pinning. Blood is hard to get out and really shows up on white.
- Another tip for quilting with these light fabrics: Don’t spill water on the ironing board. I have a great looking ironing board cover, but spilled water on the board. I proceeded to press the block right over the wet spot. Guess what? The color from the ironing board cover bled onto the off-white fabric. Yes, it was noticeable. Yes, I had to re-cut 2 strips and re-piece a block that was in the center of the quilt. So, I had to unsew quite a few seams to get to the damaged areas. I will be more careful next time.
- Keep the fabric free from any hang ups. That’s pretty obvious you think. I keep it in my lap, smooth it out on the side and back. I moved the stuff out from behind the machine and rolled the edge up neatly under the throat of the machine. You’d think I had it covered, right? Well, the fabric roll can get caught on the quilting bar, and if/when it does, it will just sew in one place until you figure out what it’s caught on. The fabric can also get caught on the pins. The pins can also get caught on your clothes. In all of these circumstances, the quilt will not feed and your stitches will get really small until you dislodge the obstruction. And, unfortunately, with straight line quilting, you will notice all of these blemishes.
- Straight line quilting will accentuate any imperfections in your piecing. If your pieces are not sewn straight or if your blocks are not square, you will notice this. But, I believe that you will only notice it when close up. After the quilt is finished, the overall impression will be that everything is straight because your mind will assume that since the lines are straight, that the stitching is straight. At least that’s what I am telling myself right now.
- I quilted in both directions, alternately. That is, I first quilted a vertical row and next a horizontal row. Then, I quilted about 3 more rows in that direction, alternating top and bottom each time. Then, I went back to the vertical quilting and did about 4 rows. I alternated vertical & horizontal until I ran out of thread. I also took this semi-quilted piece to the ironing board, removed the pins from the un-quilted area and smoothed everything out from the back side and re-pressed. I was so pleased that there were NO puckers so far, and I didn’t have to smooth too much. I guess that quilting in alternate directions helped keep things moving along together enough. I re-pinned and am ready to finish up later.
For those of you who live in Bloomington/Normal, you know that Gene’s Ice Cream is open and that’s my weekend tradition. So, after I run errands and pick up that thread, I’ll be heading to Gene’s for a medium chocolate cone. My little Sam will be home for his 1st birthday, and he’ll be going to Gene’s for his first cone on Thursday! Maybe I’ll remember the camera.
I’ll post again when I finish up this quilt, the tote that is cut and stabilized and maybe that other pillow I talked about last week. Until then….happy sewing.
