Several weeks ago I went fabric shopping. I had no Halloween décor for my home, so I enlisted my friend and former coworker Amy, a huge Halloween fan, to help choose fabric for placemats to address that lack.
Those spiders are a stretch for me. Not a spider fan over here, despite knowing that they help control pests. The color, scale and theme were right though, so I went with it.
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| Halloween Fresh Wrapped placemats in progress |
I chose to use my Fresh Wrapped pattern. There wasn't much cutting to do, as these are strip pieced, so the cutting and piecing were easily finished in one evening. I then pondered what to quilt, and decided quilting in the ditch would be just fine. The fabrics are the stars of the show in these, and since I was using Thermore for the batting, I didn't need to quilt more densely than that. Thermore is ideal for runners and placemats, as it has just enough loft to still show a bit of texture from quilting, but not so much loft that the surface is uneven and results in tipped beverage glasses. It also doesn't shrink, so paired with pre-washed fabric it results in a placemat that won't get too wonky after washing.
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| Binding Fresh Wrapped placemats |
I think the binding took longer that the quilting. Placemats are small, so it's easy to forget how much binding a table set needs. This set has about 360". That's 10 yards! If you're wondering why I use so many clips, you can read all about it and the rest of my binding method here. I've tried school glue instead of all those clips, but clearly I need to go back to kindergarten because I made a mess with the glue. I'll stick with clips.
Binding is rather boring, right up until it's finished. When it's finished, I marvel at what difference the binding makes.
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| Halloween version of Fresh Wrapped, by Canuck Quilter Designs |
Sneaky! I don't know that I've ever been that tricky, so maybe I need to try? I used your binding tutorial earlier this week for some Quilts for Kids bindings that required machine sewing. After yours, I wandered out for videos, but ended up deciding yours was better than the others (I could easily skip the parts I already knew) and more in line with the way I had learned it a long time ago. But the pressing - just like you, I wondered why I hadn't learned that sooner. (I'd heard of it between my last attempt and this one, but hadn't used it for machine binding, just skinny hand binding.) Truly a game changer. And I only put Wonder clips on about every 3 or 4 inches! (Pins in the corners, though, to keep those tidy and just so.) Thanks for the effort to write it all up! And I love the placemats, spiders and all!
ReplyDeleteVery fun placemats, and I got a kick out of how you had your friend chose her own gift.
ReplyDeleteMy sneakiest sewing was one year when I made tied TATW quilts for each of my 4 children, my in-laws, and my brother-in-law and his wife. It wasn't hard to do the in-law quilts, but the ones for my kids were harder. I could only work while they were at school. I didn't have a sewing room at the time, so I couldn't just lock the door. I didn't even have a dining table. I had to set up a table in the living room and sew like a mad woman while they were gone. Then I had to clean it all up before they got home and make it look like I had been doing other things all day. My Mom came and helped on the days I tied them. She would come as soon as the kids were on the bus. We would get a quilt tied and everything put away before anyone came home, and do it all again when I had the next quilt finished. I didn't start them all until late in the fall. It was an exhausting holiday.
Cute! I bet Amy got a good laugh when she saw them! I have done my binding like that for years, I thought every one did, LOL
ReplyDeleteWhat a great friend you are. The set will be loved, I am sure.
ReplyDeleteSneaky indeed! What a marvelous finish. I'm sure they will be much appreciated. I need more Wonder clips!
ReplyDeleteI love sneakiness like that! They're fun placemats, too.
ReplyDeleteThat is very sneaky but what a lovely gift!
ReplyDeleteThat was a nice sneaky sewing surprise. They look terrific!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was doing the embroidery on the "Vintage Tin" quilt that I made for DH, I did the hand embroidery every morning since I get up early and he doesn't. Even when we were on a trip and I was embroidering in the motel room where he was sleeping, he never had a clue until I gave him the quilt for his birthday. It took me about a year to do all the embroidery for it.
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