Well, my Gather Love quilt made it to it's new home just before baby girl arrived! So now I have no excuse to update the blog. :)
See the original Gather Love quilt here. So cute, isn't it? I love it! When I saw this, I knew I had to make one! Go here for the Gather Love Quilt tutorial.
Overall, I'm content with this project. It's not perfect, but it's still a sweet little quilt. Here are a few things I learned...
First, I thought ten 1/4 yard cuts seemed like a bit much for this size of quilt. I did a little math, and found that I could cut all the needed pieces out of seven 1/4 yards. No problem. So save a bit of fabric, if you like. (Cut carefully, and one 1/4 yard yields enough pieces for three blocks). Though ten different cuts of fabric would give you more variety in the quilt.
Also, I adjusted the size of the sashing and borders to give the blocks a little more breathing room and make the quilt just a bit bigger. I like a baby quilt to be as big as the backing fabric will allow so it can be used a little longer as the baby grows. (I cut my background fabric into 2.5" strips, so the sashing and borders finished at 2" wide. I was still able to do this using 1 yard of background fabric.) A minor adjustment for my liking. My quilt finished at about 40" x 49.5".
As for block construction, I found that even when I cut precisely, gathered carefully, and pressed the heck out of these blocks (even using starch) I could not get a stable square.
So I basted each ruffle center to an unseen background piece that would give it stability. It took a bit more time and more fabric, but I could be sure that each finished block would be square. To do this, I used 20 4" squares of light colored scrap fabric. After I gathered the ruffled center, I basted around all four edges and was good to go.
Here's the quilt top, ready to baste.
My straight line quilting was a source of disappointment. I tried to baste carefully (not stretching the fabric, pinning every few inches) but it still seemed like the fabric was shifting slightly. I didn't have any tucks or creases, but there were some bulges that tell me the fabric wasn't distributed evenly. Maybe my walking foot needs maintenance? I quilted a ton of intersecting straight lines on my Love Mosaic quilt without any problems, so I don't know what the problem was.
This quilt is backed in Sweetest Bird in Blue by Riley Blake. The other prints are a mix of Riley Blake, Denyse Schmidt, and a bunch of Bonnie & Camille. Of course, sashed in Kona Bone.
I did not add in the optional trim in the binding, but it would have been really cute! I love that detail in the original quilt.
The ruffled centers and fabric choices make this quilt. It's a fun one; great tutorial!
Overall, I'm content with this project. It's not perfect, but it's still a sweet little quilt. Here are a few things I learned...
First, I thought ten 1/4 yard cuts seemed like a bit much for this size of quilt. I did a little math, and found that I could cut all the needed pieces out of seven 1/4 yards. No problem. So save a bit of fabric, if you like. (Cut carefully, and one 1/4 yard yields enough pieces for three blocks). Though ten different cuts of fabric would give you more variety in the quilt.
Also, I adjusted the size of the sashing and borders to give the blocks a little more breathing room and make the quilt just a bit bigger. I like a baby quilt to be as big as the backing fabric will allow so it can be used a little longer as the baby grows. (I cut my background fabric into 2.5" strips, so the sashing and borders finished at 2" wide. I was still able to do this using 1 yard of background fabric.) A minor adjustment for my liking. My quilt finished at about 40" x 49.5".
As for block construction, I found that even when I cut precisely, gathered carefully, and pressed the heck out of these blocks (even using starch) I could not get a stable square.
So I basted each ruffle center to an unseen background piece that would give it stability. It took a bit more time and more fabric, but I could be sure that each finished block would be square. To do this, I used 20 4" squares of light colored scrap fabric. After I gathered the ruffled center, I basted around all four edges and was good to go.
Here's the quilt top, ready to baste.
And a few of my favorite blocks.
This quilt is backed in Sweetest Bird in Blue by Riley Blake. The other prints are a mix of Riley Blake, Denyse Schmidt, and a bunch of Bonnie & Camille. Of course, sashed in Kona Bone.
I did not add in the optional trim in the binding, but it would have been really cute! I love that detail in the original quilt.
The ruffled centers and fabric choices make this quilt. It's a fun one; great tutorial!
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