Greetings Fellow Quilters!
&
Welcome to Part IX of the
2016 Redbird Quilt Co.
Free Motion Quilt Along
using the whimsical
Lewe's Balloons Growth Chart
by Susy Bleasby
Many thanks for your patience the last 2 weeks while I traveled from Eastern NY to Western NY sharing my love of quilting with Guilds and Shops along the way!
I'm pretty blessed to travel around sharing what I love with others -- sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.
In the final installment of our 2016 FMQ Along we're talking finishing steps for the World of Susybee
Lewe's Balloons Growth Chart Panel.
But FIRST !!
If and when you're done quilting the final border on Lewe's Balloons I REALLY want you to follow these instructions!!
- Take a step back
- Admire your work
- Really -- admire your work! You Did It!!
- Now go to a mirror and give yourself a "high five" for walking through this beginner Free Motion Quilt Along and making it to the very end --- WOOHOO!!
If you've quilted along from the 1st to the last session you deserve a BIG pat on the back! Great job!
If you're just joining us be sure to checkout the previously published
Free Motion Quilt Along Posts:
Supplies => here
Part I Pieced Borders => here
Part II Pin Basting ==> here
How to Quilt That =>
here
Part III Tools, Setup + Practice =>
here
Part IV Let's FMQ =>
here
Part V More FMQ =>
here
Part VI Echo, Pebbles, Loops & Swirls Oh My! =>
here
Part VII Landscape & Background =>
here
Part VIII Borders ==>
here
Also, do checkout our fabulous Sponsors and their generous Giveaways....
You can read all about that ==>
here
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Finally -- lets talk finishing steps...
They include:
1. Squaring-Up the quilt top
2. Preparing a Hanging Sleeve
3. Prepare and attach the Quilt Binding
4. Prepare and attach a Quilt Label
In lieu of writing tutorials for each of the above steps I've decided to describe and/or refer you to some of my favorite tutorials that cover the finishing steps...
1. Squaring up the Quilt top -- the objectives of "squaring up" include:
- determining the length and width that the quilt top can be trimmed such that you'll have the same width across the top, middle, and bottom of sections of the quilt and the same length to the left and right of center
- determining the length and width of the quilt that will allow roughly the same amount of final border showing around the perimeter of the quilt
- ensuring that your corners are cut at a 90 degree angle
In my Lewe's Balloons Sample Growth Chart I was able to "square-up" to 51" tall by 27.75" wide and with appx 3.75" of the Green Dot border showing all the way around.
Use a large square ruler, a LONG ruler, and a good rotary cutter to "square-up" your quilt. You may have to "fudge" the squaring along the way -- you'll want to be sure that your corners are at a 90 degree angle. "Fudging" means you may have some corners or lengths that only have batting showing (and not top or back) -- but that is OK as long as the binding will cover that area. The main thing is that your quilt is "square", that the corners are at a 90 degree angle and that the width and length measurements don't vary from top to bottom or side to side.
I normally start on a corner of the quilt -- and double check measurements and ruler placement to ensure that I'll end up with a 90 degree angle in each corner. If you need detailed instruction for "squaring-up" a quilt top there are several different YouTube and written tutorials available online. I also talk about it briefly in my
Family Tree Quilted Envelope Pillow tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop. You're also welcome to reach out to me via email for help -- I would be happy to help if I can. My email address is available at the bottom of the post.
2. Preparing a Hanging Sleeve....
NOTE: The sleeve instructions below are not quilt show approved.... Preparation of an AQS Approved Quilt Sleeve can be
found here.
Image shows the beginning of the sleeve process. I cut a 8" tall by WOF piece to begin.
For quilts used at home or gifted... my standard way of preparing a quilt sleeve is:
- Cut the sleeve fabric 8" tall by the width of the squared quilt minus 1 inch
- Fold the short ends of the sleeve fabric over twice at .5" (each fold) and machine top stitch to make finished short edges
- Fold the sleeve in half length (long) wise with wrong sides together.
- Center and position the raw edges of the folded sleeve at the top of the quilt sandwich on the back and pin or baste in place -- be sure it is centered left to right.
- The sleeve will be sewn to the quilt back when the binding is applied
- Once the binding is complete, hand sew the bottom and sides of the sleeve to the quilt back -- leaving the outer layer of the short edge open for the rod.
For our Lewe's Balloons Growth Chart I suggest you start with a raw edge sleeve 8" tall by 27" wide -- once it's sewn into the binding it will finish to be 3.75" tall by 25" wide.
3. Preparing and attaching a quilt binding...
Oh there are so many ways to make and attach a quilt binding. The most common method is detailed in this
Moda Bake Shop Binding tutorial.
PLEASE NOTE: We planned for binding strips 2.25" wide and sewn on with a 1/4" seam allowance. The referenced Moda Bake Shop tutorial assumes the strips are 2.5" wide and sewn with a 3/8" seam allowance. You can follow the Moda Bake Shop tutorial step by step -- except you'll cut your strips 2.25" wide and use a 1/4" seam allowance. (If you have enough fabric to cut your strips 2.5" wide, you can follow the Moda Bake Shop tutorial exactly as written).
For our Lewe's Balloons Growth Chart Binding:
- I cut (5) 2.25" strips by Width of Fabric
- I sewed the 5 strips together (end to end) with a mitered connection - this reduces bulk when you're attaching your strips to the quilt top. (See Moda Bake Shop tutorial above).
- Once your strips are sewn together end to end and the seams are pressed open, fold the binding in half lengthwise (wrong sides together) and press
- Now align and pin the raw edge of the binding on the raw edge of your squared quilt on the front side of the quilt (machine stitch to the front and hand stitch on the back).
- See detailed instructions for the remaining steps in the Moda Bake Shop recipe.
Label -- it's really important to label you're work. I normally include these items on my quilt label:
- Name of Quilt
- Name & Location of Person who made the Quilt
- Name of Person who quilted the quilt (if different than the maker)
- Date the Quilt was completed or gifted
- Name of Person the Quilt was gifted to
I've tried many times to make a hand-written label and I never seem to be satisfied with them. For quilts that won't require extensive washing and drying I use the computer to prepare and print the label on fabric. I've written a tutorial for preparing a label with your computer, you can see it ==> here ==>
Printed Quilt Label Tutorial -- sew fun!
Ok then -- once you've completed these steps you've made it to the end game.
In the next few days I'll be posting a recap of our Redbird Quilt Co 2016 FMQ Along AND having a Linky Party so you can submit entries for the Giveaway. If you don't have a blog, Instagram or Facebook account you can submit your entries to me directly (email below) and I will post them for you so you are eligible for the giveaway drawings.
Great job everyone!!
Take care now and Keep on Quilting!
Karen
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More Info:
I'm booking Redbird Quilt Co. Lectures, Trunk Shows and Workshops for 2017.
If your Shop, Group or Guild is looking for programs or workshops I would love to hear from you.
Domestic Machine Quilting, Wool & Needle turn Applique - Technique or Project oriented workshops are available.
Send email inquiries to karen at redbirdquiltco dot com
or redbirdquiltco at gmail dot com
*
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If you love to Free Motion Quilt consider joining my
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videos on my
YouTube Channel
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I'll soon be sharing live feed TV on my
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and I share other tutorials and patterns on
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Thanks again for stopping by...
