More process details

I've made amazing progress on Erica's tee-shirt quilt. Of course, I worked so quickly that I didn't take pictures of it. Nonetheless, I still wanted to stay true to my process pledge so I'll blab a bit here about it (and promise to post some pics soon).

When you last read about my progress, I had backed the tee-shirts with muslin and double-sided fusible. Someone asked me to tell more about the fusible but you'll have to forgive me because I threw the packaging away before I wrote down what brand I used. Sorry! Anyway, it comes in a 5 yard roll and I got it at Michael's. Of course, they don't list anything on their website that is remotely similar so I suggest doing a bit of Googling. Next time I won't be such a moron and will make sure to provide product details. Anyway, I have this awesome striped fabric that I cut into 2 1/2 inch strips to frame each tee-shirt. There are many ways to do sashing; I typically sew in vertical rows and then sew the columns together. I attached sashing to the tops and bottoms of each square (which measured about 14-15 inches each) and then sewed them into 3 columns of 4. The tee-shirts were firmly backed with the muslin and fusible so I made sure to use a heavier needle in my machine than usual. I also decided to go with polyester thread instead of cotton as it seemed to work better going in and out of the tee-shirt/muslin/fusible sandwich. I found that some of the sticky stuff on the fusible kept getting on my needle so make sure you clean yours off once in a while and obviously to toss it when you're done with this type of project so as to avoid sticky goo on other quilts! After finishing the sashing, I pin basted and decided to just stitch-in-the-ditch for the quilting, around each tee-shirt. This way, the whole quilt will always be nice and crinkly, not to mention will highlight the tee-shirts. I need to make my binding which I usually do on the bias and will be attaching it using my machine. I like to have a nice sized strip showing so I cut the fabric into 2 1/4 inch strips, then attach all the strips together on the bias. I also need to make a little label for the quilt. I think I'll be going pretty basic and will be handwriting it and then attach it using some of the left over fusible and white fabric. I've been really bad about labeling my quilts but that's only because I want to design my own label using Spoonflower fabric and right now I'm too broke to do that.

So it's off to craft a bit more. Was at work and running errands until just a little bit ago so hopefully I can squeeze some quilting in before dinner and the evening fatigue sets in. Still need to send out a few job applications and get some more things together for my beach weekend (HURRAY!).

Oooo, and it's restaurant week here so my sweetie, sis and 2 friends are livin' it up and heading to Le Cirque on Friday. Yay for $35 meals at crazy-fancy-expensive restaurants. Mmmm...

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde