13 January 2011

The shirting quilt


In honor of Peter's men's shirt sew-along, here are some photos of the recently finished shirting quilt. It's a basic nine patch pattern with ivory flannel sashing between the blocks. There are 12 shirting fabrics in brown and blue. Most were upcycled from men's shirts and a few fabrics came from Happy Stop in Oakland, where the hit-or-miss inventory is $2 per yard.


I wanted something quick, warm and comfortable, but it turns out that nothing queen-sized is ever quick. The warm and comfortable bits came out as planned.


It's backed with a double layer of flannel. The quilting is a wide-spaced plaid in tan and navy.


I posted the hand embroidered label before, back when I had just started to finish the binding by hand. After letting it languish for a few weeks I decided to machine-stitch the binding, which ended up being something of a disaster. My plan was to stitch in the ditch on the front of the binding (that is, run the thread along the edge of the binding so that it is almost invisible), catching the edge of the plaid fabric on the back. Perhaps because of the fluffy double layer of flannel backing, I had the hardest time catching the binding on the back and had to sew over most of the edge two and three times. The short cut turned out to be a lot more work than I had bargained for. Thankfully this quilt was never about precision and detail.

14 comments:

  1. such gorgeous quilt you made Dan! I love the shirt look and the palette!

    I'm in love with your labels, I'm so lazy to make them pretty (mmm...it can be a good resolution for 2011)

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  2. i have my pieces ready for a shirt quilt, but it's been so long ago i cut those pieces i can't even remember the supposed design of it. seeing this wonderful result makes me want to start on it quick. quicker than possible too.
    i'm gonna bear this in mind though.

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  3. This is gorgeous! Makes me want to make one!

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  4. what a great quilt! and the snow is just the perfect surrounding for the pics..
    thanks for sharing,
    claudia

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  5. Ah...another quilt in the snow...it looks wonderful. I love what you named the quilt too. So sorry about your binding problems...I hate when a short cut turns into a long cut. I was just planning to try that method...I'm having second thoughts now.

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  6. Wait a minute...there's snow in Oakland?

    I love this quilt. Gosh, I've got drawers of men's recycled shirt scraps left over from a couple other quilts. Makes me want to make one too!

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  7. I have been admiring your quilts! I am not good at labeling and I really like the simplicity of your labels. How do you do them?

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  8. Beautiful work. Beautiful color combination. Thank you for sharing your talents and skills.

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  9. does happy shop have a web site? and do you know if they post overseas? Australia?
    I just went on the web site and I know they are closing down and I'm looking for a bargain. please if you couldhelp!

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  10. It is very nice but i will suggest you should go for Cotton Fabric Suppliers in India they have excellent quality fabrics.

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