The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Patchwork & Quilting ... Welcome to the Darkside => Current Projects => Topic started by: renita on January 03, 2019, 08:13:00 AM
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I've had a copy of Millefiori 2 for several months now, thinking that one day maybe I'd be
crazy brave enough to have a go. With the current home-decorating and stash-busting competitions underway, I've decided that there's no time like the present and while I'm not yet insane courageous enough to tackle the full thing, maybe I could handle a cushion. Maybe. I've wanted a meditation cushion for a while, so this could be a way of mindfully hand-sewing my own.
So, I headed into the stash-room on New Year's Day and dug out my small pile of quilting fabrics. They may not be the colours I'd choose for a cushion if I was purchasing fabrics today, but I'm seeing this as a test run, no need to be precious about anything.
I'm planning to do a couple of rosettes from two different quilts (that conveniently have pieces in common, just pieced together into different patterned rosettes). That should give me a top and bottom for the cushion. Then, if I can wangle it, I'll use another block/quilt to make the side of the cushion. This is still a work in progress, so may not eventuate.
I'm largely going to be winging it. This is my first go at hand-piecing. I've usually hand-quilted in the past, but machine pieced. Was totally put off by having to glue or baste all the bits around paper first, but learned that I could totally skip that part - super happy. I'm sure I'm making about a gazillion-times more progress than I'd be making otherwise.
New Years Day evening progress - blurry(?) image of a little test piece (centre of rosette), sitting between my Millefiori 2 book for the patterns and my stash of quilting fabrics
(https://i.imgur.com/RtSu79Ul.jpg)
Progress as at earlier this afternoon - can you tell I haven't been doing anything other than hand-sewing dozens of bitty-little fabric pieces together since lunch-time New Year's Day? Totally addicted. But then, I can never walk away from a jigsaw puzzle until it's finished either...
(https://i.imgur.com/rJxmQgUm.jpg)
The stars around the outside aren't attached in that second image, just sitting in position to give me an idea of how big it's going to be.
Comments so far:
*Did I mention how super-happy I am that I don't have to pre-baste all these bits to paper?? Piecing with running stitch rocks.
*I can't cut out shapes accurately, at all. 6mm seam allowances? They are probably 6mm, if you take the average over a large enough sampling...
*I can, however, put dots with a marker in each corner where I'm supposed to sew from and to, and I can sew reasonably straight for the 3 cm required to get from one dot to the next. Happy enough with that.
*I'm as blind as a bat these days. Never knew how valuable a needle-threader was, until I was trying to thread my needle with mono-filament nylon. I'm guarding my needle-threader with my life now.
*Fussy cutting could be the end of me. Managed it using the stripey fabric at the centre of the rosette. Failed with the outer stripes to get them properly circular. Haven't been bothered with the rest. Will try again on the rosette for the other side.
That will do for today's report. Back to it, still an hour of daylight left here ...
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I've had a copy of Millefiori 2 for several months now ...
I've had the Millefiori books for several years now and have not had a go yet with any of the patterns in the books. I got the papers for making La Passacaglia from a friend who had realised that they were never going to be used, but I wonder if they will end up getting passed on to someone else again. Piecing with running stitch might well be a better option; as you say, the seams are quite short so I wouldn't need to mark the complete seam line.
I look forward to seeing how you get on with the cushion (or if you decide that a quilt might be possible after all).
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Wow! @renita you have bucket loads of patience. As a stash-busting exercise though, it'll take a while 0_0
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Wow, I'm jealous. Absolutely gorgeous!
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Go Girl!
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That's lovely, such patience :loveit:
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Thanks everyone for the encouragement!
I don't know whether I'm patient or the exact opposite. I just have to keep going because I have to see what it looks like.
I've now finished the first rosette and almost done on the second.
(https://i.imgur.com/p3vLFVcl.jpg)
Technical bits
First rosette (left) is the centre section of the 'complete' rosette from 'Ballet with Kaffe Fassett', up to step 5.
Second rosette (right) is block 3 from 'Be Calm and Count Up To 10' (diagrams 12 & 13), but it is slightly smaller than the other one. I've worked out some extra pieces to add on around the edge to get it up to the same size and they are shown unattached above.
Then attached below, on the right
(https://i.imgur.com/uYZoK34l.jpg)
I'm treating this as a training exercise, so not so worried about my choices. Takes the pressure off beautifully. But I can see that getting the contrast right can make a big difference. Some of the shapes are not very distinct, because my fabrics all have a similar tone.
I'm liking the second rosette more. Have worked more on the fussy cutting and like its more organic lines over the linear nature in the first.
Need to start thinking about how I'll put this together:
Removable stuffing?
Definitely needs quilting on a backing for strength/stability
Wavy edges,or try to work out how to smooth out the rosettes' shape. Smooth edges might mean less strain on the rosettes
Stash busting exercise? MASSIVE FAIL
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If you want the inner stuffing/cushion pad to be removeable, and you are using both rosettes together for one cushion, you will have to smooth out the edges in order to insert a zip. That means either working out another round of pieces, or applique the whole lot onto a circle of fabric.
Whatever you do it's looking great 0_0
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Those look lovely and seem to have come together very quickly.
Inspired by your running stitch piecing, I took a drill to my La Passacagalia templates and made holes so I can mark the seam allowances rather than use paper pieces.
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Thanks @StitchinTime. Glad I've encouraged you to give it a try. I can highly recommend cheaty EPP
0_0
Some dots, one pin to line up the dots of the corner I'm heading to and my needle to line up the dots I'm starting from and I'm on my way.
Since I posted earlier tonight, I've already managed to put together the remaining 8 mini blocks that will complete the second rosette. It's taking far less time than I thought it would.
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Looks great... sounds complicated ;)
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@BrendaP You make a great point about the zip.
I hadn't even considered applique as an option
Thanks for that tip.
Complicated? Yes, I suspect it's getting more so by the minute! I'm definitely going to have to make some decisions shortly. Who would have thought that piecing together hundreds of little shapes would be the simple part of this project?
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Progress update:
(https://i.imgur.com/aLKaY5Kl.jpg)
I now have the three bits (top, bottom and side wall) pieced!
Top: 130 pieces
Bottom: 180 pieces
Side: 270 320 pieces
Total: 580 630 pieces!
I don't think I should have counted them up. And I know I definitely shouldn't have counted how many pieces were going to be in the side BEFORE I did it.
I found it interesting that the strip I need to go around my little cushion is almost the full length required for the quilt - I think it's just one block shorter. It would make a much smaller quilt than I'm used to.
Not sure how well they go together, both pattern-wise and fit-wise. But this is a 'no care' project, so I'm not allowed to agonise over it. I know adding in the extra pieces to make the top and bottom more round has shortened the path around the cushion edge, by about 10%. Some easing will be required and I think I might put piping along the edges to make that less obvious. It also might help to hide the zipper.
But first, to quilting...
I have enough fabric in my tiny quilting stash to provide the backing. (All these fabrics are leftovers from my last quilting project, about 12 years ago) Not sure about wadding. Will check about in the stash for something. Even a bit of fleece or an old flannelette sheet might work in a pinch? I am trying to do this from stash, after all.
I'm still inclined to hand-quilt - have never had a go at machine quilting. I just worry about strength when I sit on it. I might have to do some experiments with machine quilting before I make the final call.
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Gulp!!! :S
I think the only way you could make that photo any more intimidating is by including a tape measure to show exactly how tiny those pieces are!!!
But the colours, the colours ...they G L O W !!!
Awesome!!!! RESPECT!
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Thanks @Iminei. I think I managed to get better contrast on the side piece - a good learning exercise for me.
Would you believe I've had to correct my progress update post, as I got the count wrong. It's actually worse than I thought, with 320 pieces in the side bit, 630 total. Any wonder it started to feel like I'd never get to the end of it.
Too dark here to scare you with a tape measure now, :devil: but I think the smallest piece is the 'half square' in the edges of the side piece - they are 2cm x 1cm, the full (little) squares running along the centre are 2cm x 2cm. The diamonds or larger squares are 4cm across the diagonal.
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the 'half square' in the edges of the side piece - they are 2cm x 1cm, the full (little) squares running along the centre are 2cm x 2cm. The diamonds or larger squares are 4cm across the diagonal.
cm's ... Double Gulp!!! :S :S
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Gulps all round :S R.E.S.P.E.C.T :flower:
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Gulps from me too. Wow!!!
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Well, it's taken a while, but I've FINALLY managed to complete this project. It was supposed to be finished by the end of January. Since we're up to a January again, I thought I'd better get back to it.
I ended up hand-quilting all the pieces - hope you'll be able to see that in the photos because I forgot to take a really-close up picture and I may not get this posted if I wait to go back for another photo.
I'd struggled working out how to get the pieces together. The side strip is slightly longer than the circles, because of the extra piece I added to make it more of a rectangle, rather than having an undulating edge. I wanted to do all sorts of fancy things, like a zipper, and/or piping, but all of those things are what stalled the project - dealing with those while also easing the side piece to the top and bottom was too much of a challenge. I even had a go at hand-stitching the quilted pieces together, but realised that the seams were unlikely to support my weight...
In the end, I have machine sewn the top and bottom to the side, leaving a gap to stuff it, then hand-sewn the gap closed, as firmly and securely as I can.
Since this was a stash project, I used an old quilt/doona (and part of a cushion) to stuff it, just cutting out layers and layers until I ran out. Once I stuffed the cushion with the quilt/doona layers, it still felt a bit soft, so that's when the extra stuffing from the cushion was added.
I'm putting the apparent wonkiness, that seems to show up in every photo, but isn't so visible in real life, down to the fact that my circles are actually decagons and I didn't want to round it off to a circle and lose the little points on my stars.
It's hard to judge the scale from the photos of the cushion on its own, so I included one where it's sitting with the rest of my yoga gear. Of course, it's just occurred to me that I could measure it - the top and bottom are 33cm or 13inches across and the side piece is about 11cm or 4.25 inches high.
Project done - SUPER happy with the result.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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Just WOW!!!!
Bravo Renita, Bravo!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fWRHrvyEw4HgJTcyug_7K0RtbcrVoQytz9staZ8rhd32IkVkf9aW4fclZc65vbSgz32SfDbuC8tk8XtJHAzvSsP3YJ7Jv-tkcXDhoqcBh0s5PKAMKdHhL1jN_gp9JhzcotbeXVpdiLELPN-yGUYXEehjTXxLXqrywmUbZRUjFy2v66rdOOEnhsVP_BdlKF-boIlYZGbY0-016Kn6sC4apdIpJaeSMZmbg1vM93mTli2KswisEsam6BhB2rbx2dd_m5DDqxsq533yiTKeRwv4O_hGlb6-QQjUzfT2pkVyBQk-PMlZN0pR-e2Z3iHD5MCHpp00IoOPJohoG_nNvZlKNfRqqvFw0l1bbkqZSNmrefu8w-kGcvh5KIe8VKCKbYV9OBW3sqSg3hF0_T8OjnNWyfd8mReRdWM8Hd7rbf2-fbxuCu70b3hF1odHVNxQj3afpiprmV8NlDT0hIyW1mxiMRkgVpzMxUmKrJvebOEshwluXDFsl-8Gk0zs1-CcoB2NbmB5eStPSDH7NlsatzAyJh8dFL1RGwP0OxWtePhA7PbFxtf2KNeeCAIgxmIHi_cOt8BVFqAYxDzmCFtFwAr9p3IhSeHA3HRk8Xs8lhsgQAQqhdi9YIec-rHCOlBhqBpEYzMGAUXw-urXMakBIn_eIrilLGOiNaQ__egwbv_1iO7izH0cGweYyNKD9GdxmTcC86vzaOtYUdpcswrJpefhHotcel4l9ydRha_gnKC9ew=w572-h322-no)
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That's brilliant! Well done!!! :D
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Gosh, that looks a very complicated construction, well done, it's impressive. There isn't any noticeable wonkiness.
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I love it, the blue's are beautiful
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Lovely work
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Absolutely amazing.
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Thanks folks. 0_0
It was my first go at hand-piecing and I enjoyed it. I'd love to go all-out on a fancy, fussy-cut quilt one day, but probably not for a while. In the meantime, I'll sit and enjoy seeing all the beautiful quilts you guys come up with.