A quilt for Aiden

Tonight I am posting a baby quilt that I made last year. I am working slowly to post my entire quilt portfolio on this blog.  It won't be long-- I haven't made many.

This quilt was the first quilt I made to welcome a new baby.  My dearest friend Tara's sister was about to have a baby, and I knew I wanted to attempt something special.  This quilt may not appear too complicated, but I assure you, it was thoughtful (in the most basic sense of the word).  I didn't want to concentrate on a complicated, pieced top.  Rather, I wanted to make something modern and comforting.  Something sharp but still providing that cuddly quality that makes a quilt a quilt.

The design is clean, straight, and simple, but the quilting is all by hand.  Modern and comfy.  Sharp and cuddly.

And who can resist an owl print for a baby quilt?  (I thought this one was playful without being obnoxiously baby)

These photos are in our old rent house. We just moved, and I am currently working to rethink, reorganize, and remodel a room in our new home solely for sewing.  I told my dad I feel like a mechanic who just got a garage!

Granny's Quilt (Free motion Quilted)

Granny's Quilt

I will upload more photos later.  I forgot to take pictures before I brought this home to Missouri.

Ryan's Birthday Quilt (Free motion Quilted)

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

I made this quilt for my brother's 30th birthday.  The purple fabric is a duvet cover I found at a thrift store.  In fact, most of the material used to make the block columns is sheet fabric-- mostly pillow cases.  I did pull out a few fat quarters I purchased from a fabric store that I felt complimented the other colors.  

The free motion quilting design I used is called Paisley, however I did not follow the design exactly.  Instead stitching every inch of the quilt, I would stitch away in long lines and start a new paisley in open space. I also wasn't concerned about coming to the same point with each paisley curve. The result you can see below.

Front:
The front was very easy to construct.  I just sewed together blocks of the same width and differing lengths together and straighted them up when I finished with my rotary cutter so that each column would be the same width.  As I mention below, I actually made this quilt twice, so I didn't have enough purple sheet fabric to finish the edges.  I don't sweat it when this happens-- I just fill in with patchwork.  I think the result is pretty neat looking--there won't ever be another quilt like it!

Back:
The fabric for the back is an old kids' sheet.  Rivers, rocks, and trees-- perfect for Ryan!  I unfortunately made this quilt twice. The first time I really didn't like the way my free motion quilting design was going (I tried a design way too difficult for me), and I ripped it apart.  The result was that this nature sheet wasn't big enough to cover the back a second time.  But if this happens to you, just put some patchwork in there.  You can find a much more sophisticated version of this here and here.

Here is a picture of the first quilt that I tore apart after attempting that difficult free motion quilting design:

We tried it out before I flew home with it.  Matt wanted to keep it..

Free Motion Quilting: An overview

Finally, I have taken my quilting to the next level by employing a method known as free motion quilting.  This method uses a free motion quilting foot to allow you to move your quilt freely under your machine needle to "free hand" designs as you quilt.

First, two props given.  One, Safiya, who is always 100 steps ahead of me, introduced me to this method. Two, The Free Motion Quilting Project by Leah Day provides the instructions and designs for free motion quilting. She also has a shop, Day Style Designs, where the free motion foot and other useful tools can be purchased.

My feeling is that free motion quilting gives quilts a stronger appearance, texture, quality, and individuality. The texture of the quilt is unmatched by any other method--even your dearest hand quilted heirlooms won't give you this kind of puffy, ribbon texture. The appearance of the quilt texture is also beautiful and gives the piece work you have done for your quilt top sturdiness and clarity.  I have an example.  Have a look at a quilt I am currently working on.

This is a section that has not yet been free motion quilted.

 
















This is a section that has been free motion quilted.

Do you see how the shapes appear more clearly?

 You may also enhance the appearance of sashing by using a thread the same color as the fabric of the sashing.  For example, in this same quilt I used a blue  thread so that the first strip around my  small patchwork appears more solid.

I just began using this method, so I cannot report on the strength it gives a quilt, but I would guess that the stitching will extend the life of the quilt because a tear would only open to the next seam--which in this method will be pretty close.

Furthermore, this method doesn't take very long! Believe it or not, once you have gotten into your rhythm and adjusted your machine appropriately, you can quilt a lap quilt in a few hours!

I did struggle a bit in the beginning to adjust my machine.  If you have a high shank machine, I highly suggest that you read my next post and save yourself some money (by not buying the wrong foot)!  I'll explain.
I'll leave you with some pictures of my first two quilts using this method. 

Singer Model 99 Manual

Singer Model 99 Manual Online

I am trying to identify what model of Singer my Japanese "Remington" is a clone of.

This manual of the Singer Model 99, if not the correct one, will at least help myself and any of you who are trying to correctly oil your old machine.

My new antique machine

Matt and I were at our usual Saturday outing to a thrift store when he asked me to check out the sewing machines at the back.  Apparently it was my lucky day, because there were many, and housewares were fifty percent off.  I was immediately drawn to this one, which boasts a brand that Matt recognized as a gun making company. Would Remington make a sewing machine?  Regardless, my first reaction was to this depression era blue green.  Recently I've been a little obsessed with this color.

We lugged it over to an open outlet and plugged it in.  After hearing it hum ten dollars seemed like a small risk for such a gorgeous machine.  Thank you Goodwill for continuing to recycle great stuff!  What a shame it would have been to have had such a piece taken to a dump.

I took the machine to the Triad Sewing and Vacuum to ask if they would look it over and help me identify any problems or missing pieces.  The lady who helped me was wonderful-- she not only looked it over, she showed me how to thread it and had it sewing!  I highly recommend this business to anyone here the the Triad in NC.   In addition, I learned that parts for older machines are still available, and they can therefore be maintained.  No need to worry about not being able to fix it!

So, the next step was to find out some history of the machine.  It is stamped "Japan," but the Remington name brought no hits when I searched for others online.  Finally, I came upon the Vintage Sewing Machine blog and found the following explanation:

"Shortly after W.W.II, Japan, with money from the United States, manufactured a large number of sewing machines. The most common of these were based on the Singer Model 15 but there are also Singer 99 clones. Indeed many of these machines are practically indistinguishable from a Singer and use parts that are interchangeable. Often they were given American sounding names to appeal to the overseas market. Over 5000 different "brands" have been identified, manufactured by 15 or so companies. Unfortunately, records from these manufactures don't exist, so it is impossible to identify them further. Generally speaking, a machine will, somewhere, state "made in Japan" or have "JA- " stamped into the bottom of the machine. To further complicate matters, large retailers would purchase machines and have the company name on them: RH Macy, Gimbals, etc. Any retailer so inclined could have Sewing Machines made just for him or her (Sears Kenmore, Wards Signature). I've tracked Department Stores, Machines with Automobile names, female names, patriotic names etc. The post war machines are generally well made, often quieter and smoother running than the Singers they were copied from! Japan also gave us many of our colored sewing machines. Examples have been found in metallic blue, green, pink, yellow, and I have a Fire Engine Red one! In terms of collectability, don't be fooled by a claim of "an extremely rare" Mitsubishi, Ford, Saxon, Stitch Queen etc., the same machine could have dozens of different names."

End of story, I am happy to have such a beautiful and interesting piece of machinery.  I expect it to outlast my Chinese made (pos) Singer Simple that I bought to begin sewing.  I have been using it, and it works great.   If you please, you can follow me as I learn more about how to use it.

Cheers!