And looking at the quilt in the picture confirms that this was the right decision. The single diagonals work well with the shape of the hexagons.
Although I took great care to reduce bulk when I pieces the hexagons by ironing most seams open, there was still a lot of fabric in the hexagon centres. My machine manages this well but ditch quilting which I briefly contemplated would have provided quite a challenge nonetheless.
I quilted with a 28w Aurifill thread in beige which blends in with the newspaper fabric and with the overall tone of the quilt.
When I started this quilt I (thought) I knew that I wanted to choose as backing the same newspaper print I used as background on the quilt top and also the same as binding. Well, I changed my mind and had to laugh at myself for being surprised about it. I always tell my students when they want to choose backing and binding on the first day of a quilt making class, that they should wait because they'd change their minds about a half dozen times at least. It appears that happens to the teacher too....
The backing fabric I finally settled on is "Spotted Owl" by Alexandre Henry in grey. It works perfectly for this quilt because the grey has a tinge of purple in it that blends with the purple on the front. I have had this print for so long and only used some of it on a smaller quilt ages ago. It's a tricky colour and never seemed to work with anything but finally found its match.
The quilt is smaller than I had envisioned it when I started with 57" by 54" inches but I used 90% of the fabric I had and that was my aim. When the top was finished I however added a small border in newspaper print around it to make it a little bigger.
I hope you enjoyed my frequent updates on how this quilt came together and my aim is to keep doing this rather than just showing one or two updates. After all it's all about the process, isn't it ?
This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop.
Lovely. I really like this fabric line and you did a great job with the quilt.
ReplyDeleteWonderful quilt! Great job with the photography of it, too!
ReplyDeleteIt is brilliant. Love your quilts ; )
ReplyDelete