Dec 2020 – My Stash Reduction Quest

Hello! I’m writing about something a little different today – a project that I started in April 2020 and took 7 months to complete. At the start of the UK’s first full lockdown, my Mum asked me to make my parents a quilt, as I had some time on my hands.

I had made two full size quilts before and had vague memories of some of it being tricky, but couldn’t remember why. “Gnome-a-geddon” has reminded me of the tricky parts and it’s safe to say it will be the last full size quilt that I make with my current machine. There are elements of the quilting process that I enjoy – for example the massive fabric jigsaw. However, machine-quilting is too difficult and sweary on a non-quilting machine – there just isn’t enough space under the arm to get the fabric under to do the quilting…and before it’s suggested, there is no way I’m hand-quilting as they’re huge!

Gnomes?

My Dad’s nickname has been “Gnome” since he was a teenager. Our family are all a bit “Borrower-like” in height, plus he’s had a beard for as long as anybody can remember. He often introduced my Mum, sister and I as “Mrs Gnome and the Gnome-lettes”, much to the amusement of others. So gnomes were a fairly obvious choice for the theme.

Recent example of gnome-related paraphenalia

I already had some gnome quilting cotton from another sewist’s destash. I just needed more… A quick internet search for “gnome fabric UK” brought up the Lewis and Irene Grandma’s Garden collection, which turned out to be the same collection as the fabric I already owned.

I bought “bird houses” and “grandma’s garden” as additional patterned fabrics, and added “buddleia” and “bluebell” to break up the gnomes and add pops of colour.

As I said earlier, I enjoy the process of constructing a quilt top. It’s a bit like a huge, fabric jigsaw. I had to buy some additional “border” fabric as somebody (you know who you are) confessed to measuring incorrectly! Thankfully the border frames the quilt nicely so somebody is off the hook ;o)

For the backing fabric, I ordered a king size flat sheet. I’ve found that plain rolled fabric tends to be too narrow for quilts, but a good-quality cotton sheet is perfect.

Then it all went a bit wrong…

I pinned the top, batting and backing together and started quilting in a grid formation. It all seemed fine but when I stitched the quilting lines, everything moved and got puckered in places on the back. I also found that the weight of the quilt was pulling it ‘back’ so the stitch length was uneven in a number of places. In short, it looked horrendous so I unpicked the lot!

The quilt then sat on the “naughty chair” for months, with me sporadically saying “I should probably deal with that quilt”, then ignoring it for another week. As November approached I decided to be positive and take it slowly so that I could gift the quilt for Christmas.

These pictures were taken when I had a spare hour before going to my last ballet class of the year (sob). I was adding a few rows of quilting and my husband came downstairs to find me quietly swearing in a sea of gnomes.

Apologies for the scene of destruction in the background!

Just when I thought I’d cracked it…

Quilting successfully completed, I was on the home-straight…or so I thought. I bought ready-made bias binding and used a mitred corner tutorial, which I think looks really neat. There are lots of tutorials online if you’re interested in this method. My own measuring failed me this time and I was short by half a metre – it must be genetic.

I also managed to snip a hole in the back which caused the use of some colourful language. Fortunately it was on the back and near the edge so I darned the hole and added a “design feature” label to cover it up and ensure the hole doesn’t grow. What a fool!

Whilst not without its “challenges”, I am so happy that I persevered with this project because my parents seem to really like it. It’s also a fun link to my Dad’s nickname that adds a talking point to their guest-room.

Thanks for reading about my quilt expedition :o)

Hello all. I decided that as it’s mid-December, my #makenine2020 is probably as complete as it’s going to get this year. I still have a bit of Christmas sewing to do so I don’t think I’ll manage much more “me sewing”. I’ve been really grateful for Make Nine this year as it provided a plan that I could stick to in a year when all plans were cancelled. For myself, and many people, the power of sewing this year is probably the topic of another blog post….or thesis.

Cast your mind back…..

For Make Nine 2020, I decided to raid my stash (and write a blog about how I was getting along). My fabric selection looked like this:

I am pleased to say that I managed 88.8% (recurring) of the nine. At the start of the challenge, I loved all of the fabrics so it was a case of choosing patterns wisely, rather than making something just to tick another one off my list.

Reflecting on my makes as a set, there are quite a few repeat patterns, which is a good sign as it usually means that I get a lot of wear out of them.

Swimming Imogen and Jitterbugs

Look at all those short sleeves! These three got a lot of wear over the summer months, and none are a “one-time” make. Introducing Melilot, Myosotis and Fleet:

This Melilot shirt is really light to wear and I also made an Ogden cami for sleeping in. I had fun choosing the buttons for this, which is always a nice activity to put me in a good mood before having to tackle buttonholes!

After initial reservations, waist ties made Myosotis my ‘dress of the year’, with three made in quick succession and they rarely made it back into the wardrobe for long with our glorious summer weather.

The Nina Lee Fleet top is a summer staple for me and makes a metre of fabric go a long way. I also used remnants from the Jitterbug cotton for the facing and pocket detail on my green Yanta overalls, so I really used every last scrap of that metre.

Gauze and Rainbows

Double gauze was new to me when I made my first Myosotis, but I love sewing with it and it’s so comfy to wear. The secret bonus is not needing to iron it before cutting! This turned out to be a lucky event with the teal fabric because the gold dots do not like heat. The iron strips off the gold and you’re left with a little white dot which isn’t nearly as sparkly.

I made my Rainbow Melilot early in the year without knowing the significance rainbows would have during the UK’s lockdown. For those of you not in the UK, children (and adults) displayed rainbows in windows to show support for our key workers on the front line during the pandemic.

Strawberry Meadows and Liquid Gold

I’m fairly sure that the Gold Kew was the last outfit I wore with make-up in 2020! We went to a lovely wedding without realising it would be the last time we got “dressed up” for the rest of the year. I had some fitting issues with this one due to the slippery fabric, but it felt lovely to wear.

The same is true of my Adrift dress. Fast forward 5 months and elasticated waists and flip flops were the attire for summer working from home! It took some courage to cut into this fabric as it was the most expensive in my Nine (possibly in my stash) but I’m really happy that I took the plunge.

That just leaves number 9! I really wanted to make the Untitled Thoughts Amelie dress from this fabric but I still haven’t tackled the adjustments that I need to do. I’m now considering making some summer Carolyn pjs as I think I’ll get more wear out of them. That’s a decision for 2021 though.

Thanks for reading. Writing this post has been emotional – looking back through rainbows, summer walks and a hell of a lot of “ostrich sewing” (aka head in sand). It’s made me even more grateful for sewing, sewists and the indie businesses helping us create :o)

Month: Dec 2020

Isewlation part 4: Gnome-a-geddon