I had a request from my daughter last month - to make her a cover for a futon that is in the 'nursery'. She sent me a piece of the wallpaper and some colour swatches so that I could create a 'mood' board. When they arrived in the post I set about going through my stash of fabrics to see what I had. A couple of packets arrived over the coming few days with some fat quarters that my daughter had ordered off the internet. One held some pieces that were OK, but the others, although nice fabrics and patterns were just too much of the 'wrong' colour to work in the overall scheme. By the end of the process I was amazed at just how much fabric I had that would work. We are in lockdown because of Covid 19 and I am not able to get out to any shops. Buying fabric off the internet is fraught with problems because of trying to match colours. What they look like on screen is nothing to what the colours look like in the flesh as everyone well knows.
I decided I would make a mixture of 3", 6", 9" and 12" blocks and created a layout of the sizes to get a random effect with the blocks which is what my daughter wanted because she liked the way I had done the 'Call of the Wild' quilt.
On the left you can see a piece of the wallpaper and the colours I was trying to match.
I had spent a year doing the 365 Challenge (a block a day) so I used the instructions from that for many of the 3" and 6" blocks. But I searched internet sites for ideas for the 9" and 12" blocks and for cutting instructions. I had never made 12" blocks before and it seemed odd cutting such large pieces of fabric. I did think I was going to run out of certain colours but I did manage to have enough and I am pleased with the overall look of the panel. I must mention that using my new Pfaff sewing machine was a dream. When it came to sewing through all the layers of fabrics at the 'points' it didn't hesitate, nor did it skip stitching over the bulky bits (unlike my old Brother machine). The IDT walking foot system worked a treat and the sewing up of all the blocks was completed in a morning. Wonderful. Now to quilt it, and make the cover itself. Just hope I've worked out the sizes correctly!!
On the left you can see a piece of the wallpaper and the colours I was trying to match.
I had spent a year doing the 365 Challenge (a block a day) so I used the instructions from that for many of the 3" and 6" blocks. But I searched internet sites for ideas for the 9" and 12" blocks and for cutting instructions. I had never made 12" blocks before and it seemed odd cutting such large pieces of fabric. I did think I was going to run out of certain colours but I did manage to have enough and I am pleased with the overall look of the panel. I must mention that using my new Pfaff sewing machine was a dream. When it came to sewing through all the layers of fabrics at the 'points' it didn't hesitate, nor did it skip stitching over the bulky bits (unlike my old Brother machine). The IDT walking foot system worked a treat and the sewing up of all the blocks was completed in a morning. Wonderful. Now to quilt it, and make the cover itself. Just hope I've worked out the sizes correctly!!
