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Sunday, June 8, 2014

Equal parts sewing and unsewing

I think I may have sewn this top twice. I took it apart early on to change the fabric behind the eyes. And there was more unsewing when I decided that the stripes in the background fabric should all go in the same direction so it looks like the arcs are appliqued on one large piece of fabric. 

I had to spread the top out on the floor and shoot it from the stairs to get the whole thing in the frame. 

These last few weeks have also involved a fair bit of unsewing on the borders. I had a limited amount of the fabric I wanted to use for the border, and the only way I could make it work resulted in bias along the edge where the border strips would be added. I starched the fabric, I was careful, and still the quilt waved enthusiastically at me! I ended up adding the border strips and then redoing the applique along the edge to fix the puffiness. There is still a bit of that, but I'm hopeful it will quilt out.

When adding the border strips, I measured the quilt width at the top, middle and bottom; averaged those totals; cut the strips to that size; marked the top and strips at the quarter points; matched those points; and eased the fabric to fit the border to the top. Then I did the same for the other sides. This really helped square things up.
  
A view of the top back.
 I still need to make binding and a backing, but I have the fabric for both. I think this is one for the long armer. I'm not sure how to quilt it, and it's so large I'm a bit intimidated to do it myself. Can't find the piece of paper where I calculated the borders, but I think the top ended up at 82 inches square.