Curves!

"Adding Curves" ~  to finish up at 74" square.

I've begun the border sections on his quilt and find the piecing process of slowly stitching around the gentle curves oddly relaxing! I've already admitted in my previous post that I love to challenge myself; that's the truth. The alternate Orange Peel setting blocks weren't too bad, as long as I took my time and was careful to watch out for any slack that might result in any volunteer pleats in fabric! But, in all honesty, I was dreading these double-petaled border sections that I had designed for myself, especially adding the "V" section to the unit. Much to my delight, I found that it wasn't too difficult after all! One thing that I have learned, though, (after doing the first two) is to overcut the outer edge of that "V" (in width) so that it can then be cleanly trimmed up at 1/4" beyond the petal points. The templates I've created are exact and, even though I paid close attention to cutting those outer edges on the straight grain so that there would be no "pull" lengthwise, there is still a bit of stress to that edge pulling up from the center as this piece is set in against the curves on either side. I have remedied that occurrence by cutting these pieces a wee bit more generously (in width only, and marking on the back side where the 1/4" would fall) along that edge to allow for clean up when the block unit is complete.  

I still haven't settled on the final placement of the pieced blocks, there has been much shuffling. I can use some help here if anyone would like to weigh in and suggest a possible block shift or rotation; I believe I'm at the point where I have gone block-blind on this one!

Life is Good!

Sewing With PUL

A few weeks ago a request came to our small Quilting Bee from a fellow member, Spokes and Stitches, for handmade bibs. There is a project underway through Love Without Boundaries for items to make the lives of babies undergoing cleft surgery a little brighter and more comfortable.  I found a free online bib pattern by Heather Bailey and began to pull fabrics from which to make up a few; that was, until, I had an in-person conversation with my friend who made the request. She has a son who has already undergone one cleft surgery; her sweet boy has a second one scheduled for next month. She well understands the need for these bibs and she likes for his to be as waterproof as possible. She explained that since drool is excessive a shirt can quickly become soaked through; she showed me some PUL; a waterproof fabric that she had only just purchased. PUL was new to me; it's soft to the touch and comes in solid colors as well as child-friendly prints. After seeing hers I decided to give it a try; I got some and found it to be extremely easy to work with. I used PUL for my bib fronts, backing them with soft flannel. The only special attention that I gave to this new-to-me fabric was a fresh, sharp, needle and avoidance of placing the iron directly onto the PUL itself. I did press the bibs, and they did just fine, but I pressed them from the flannel side.

While sewing the bib fronts and backs together I kept the flannel side down, against the throat plate, so that the bibs would feed through smoothly and not "stick" or bog down. I used an overedge stitch for construction. The PUL that I bought was in a three-pack of precuts, each piece measured 21" X 24" and, with precise attention to placement, I found that I was able to get three bibs from each piece! I had never made bibs before, this pattern was wonderful to work from; I found the process to be fun and rewarding!

Try something new today, I, for one, am glad that I did!
I hope and pray that these bibs will be much loved and well used by their precious little recipients.
Life is Good!