I completed this quilt which was ordered in December by a friend of mine for her newest granddaughter which is expected in April. I used this method which was brought to my attention by one of my quilting friends. Although it is not necessarily a faster method than stitching the individual pockets (the general and most widely used method) it certainly has some positives going for it like using less fabric and thread and the most important one for me is getting a much nicer backside as I just wasn't satisfied with previous methods.
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| The front with a ric-rac braid added around the edge as this method doesn't require a binding. |
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| Back |
The original one I made during the middle of December, turned out a big disaster which derailed me for a few weeks. I used polyester cotton, not thinking anything of it as one gets the most beautiful prints for babies/children. But oh boy, never again.
Whilst stitching the pockets, the fabric kept on unravelling, but I kept on making the pockets, thinking that when I stitch the final seams, everything would be fine as would be the case with 100% quilters cotton. After adding the back, I discovered that the quilt is literally falling apart at the seams. I was horrified. So, I put this one aside and continue with the butterfly bubble quilt using among others mini matt. I also immediately overlocked all the seams just as a precaution.
So, after mulling of what to do with the polyester cotton one, I decided to take it apart and overlock all the seams as well, cutting off all the unraveling fabric. Stitching together the rows was rather difficult as all the pockets was stuffed already, but I finally manage to put all back together again, add the back and..... it was still unraveling.... Not all the pockets though as I used different types of fabrics. I then closed it up by hand and stitched a serpentine stitch over all the seams, catching both sides of the pockets.
I even cut the backing piece with a pinking blade, didn't help, was unravelling before my eyes. Finishing the edge with a binding solved this problem. So, at the end I made a quilt which someone could still use, but I could never sell. Learned a very valuable lesson the hard way.
According to a local dealer, the cotton to polyester ratio is being reduced resulting in a lower grade fabric. Now, my question is, what is the use of manufacturing a fabric that will come apart after the first wash (if it will stay together that long)? I used to stitch with polyester cotton all the time when my daughter was little. When I asked the dealer where I bought the fabric for advice to curb the unravelling, I was taught to use Fray-Check.... Oh boy, a puff quilt containing 121 puffs will take how many bottles of Fray-Check???
This is the beautiful, yet sadly imperfect and smaller quilt which was made twice.
