Arrow Tail Quilt

I was initially going to make a hexagon quilt for both my son and daughter, but after a couple months of basting hexagons, I changed my mind. :) I needed to find something that I liked just as much, but that wouldn't take as much time. I came across this arrow tail quilt on Pinterest, and decided it was perfect.

I reduced the size of the "arrows" to be about the same size of the hexagons, so that they would look similar. I liked that the arrows were a little more masculine, too. I used quite a few of the same fabrics in this quilt, but added in a few more blues, greens, and grays and omitted most of the pinks. I cut out about 900 of these shapes, and then laid them out how I wanted them.

I put each row into a stack from top to bottom, and labeled the rows with numbers. Then I started sewing them together! It went pretty quick.

Sewing the rows to each other went even quicker, I just had to be careful to try to match up all the points. I had to stretch some fabrics more than others to get the seams to all match up. I was worried that it would be hard to keep the points together, or that you would see a lot of mistakes from the front, but I'm really happy with how it turned out!

I ironed all the seams as I went, and that helped a lot. Soon, it was all sewn together! I trimmed off the points on the top and bottom, and got it all ready for quilting.

I love the gray hexagon print I found for the back because it ties in with the other quilt! I decided to just quilt every other row, and I followed the zig zag line. I might have quilted every row, but I was short on time and it was a little hard to maneuver the quilt in my machine with all those angles.

I'm really happy with how well it goes with my daughter's quilt, but yet still has it's own look. It was a pretty quick sew, although there were a lot of small pieces to work with.

I'm so happy to have these quilts completed. They make me smile every time I see them. I didn't do much other sewing while I was working on these, besides a few quick things here and there, so I am looking forward to sewing up some clothes! On to the next project!

Hexagon Quilt

I had to take a picture of the back before I covered it up with batting and backing! I stretched it and layered it and pinned all the layers together, then machine quilted it on my sewing machine.

I chose to do a simple diagonal line pattern so it wouldn't take away from the patterns on the front. It was also the quickest and easiest since I was trying to get it done in time for Christmas! I felt bad about not hand quilting my hand-sewn quilt, but I also knew that I wanted it to be durable and not fall apart, and I thought machine quilting might make it a little more sturdy. I am really happy with how it turned out!! I did hand sew the binding, and then it was complete!

And here it is on my daughter's bed, with a little sneak peak of my son's quilt on top. This was definitely a big project, but I loved every minute that I worked on it, and my daughter knows just how long it took and how much work I put into it. Hopefully this is something that can be handed down to her daughter someday.

I'd love to do another hexagon/paper piecing project sometime, but probably not something this big. :)

English Paper Piecing - Part 2

I finally finished this quilt I've been working on for months and months! After I got all the hexagons basted to the papers, the next step was to sew them into rows. I stacked all the hexagons into rows in the order I wanted them, and stitched each straight side together (I don't have a picture of that step). It was a little time consuming because I had to knot and cut the thread at the beginning and end of each short side. But that way I could take just one stack with me somewhere, instead of sewing one hexagon onto a big group of other ones.

Then I sewed the rows together, which was also a little tricky because they didn't lay straight together because of all of the angles. I sewed 2-3 rows together, and then started a new group because it was easier to hold a small number of rows than a big group. Then I sewed all the 3-row groups into 6-row groups, and soon enough it was complete!

It took me about 1 hour each to sew the 20 hexagons into each row, and then another hour to sew each row together, 32 rows in all. So adding that to the 25 hours of basting the hexagons, that was AT LEAST 90 hours of hand stitching. Probably more.

Next was the fun part - taking the paper out! I used a seam ripper to cut all the basting threads, and then slipped the paper out from the back. This part went really quick and it was so rewarding! It really felt like a quilt once the paper was out! I trimmed the hexagons on the end and actually stitched the half-hexagons into the other end of the quilt, so I didn't waste any of them.

Up next: the finished quilt!

English Paper Piecing

I've been trying to figure out what kind of quilts I wanted to make for my kid's beds, but I couldn't settle on anything that I really loved. Then one of my favorite ladies here taught me how to do traditional English paper piecing, and I knew that was what I wanted to do! It is all done by hand and is really time intensive, but it produces such a beautiful quilt.

I ordered most of the fabric from Bloomerie Fabrics and I love all the colors and patterns so much! I'm not sure what the total yardage is that I used, but it is probably around 1/4 yard (some more, some less) of 26 different fabrics - so maybe 6.5 yards? I cut the fabric into 3.75 inch squares, which I then basted around a paper hexagon template that I got here. I made 630 of these hexagons! It took me about two months to get them all done. I would usually sew while watching a movie at night, and I really liked that I didn't have to be at my sewing machine to do it.

I could sew about 25 in an hour, so that is about 25 hours of work - probably more! It was so satisfying to see the stacks and stacks of complete hexagons! Once I had enough, I laid them all out how I wanted them. I'm making a twin size quilt, but I'm not sure what the exact dimensions are.

The next step is to sew them all together - again, by hand! I love that there are no seam allowances, so the quilt will look exactly as it does in the picture above. I've started sewing them together by rows, and it isn't quite as quick as I'd hoped, so I still have quite a few hours left on this project! :)

Initially, I was going to make one for each of my kids, one being more pink/orange and the other being more blue/green. But for a few reasons (maybe mostly time and difficulty!:) I'm going to do a different pattern for my son that can be sewn on the machine. But I'm really excited about that one too, because I love the pattern I decided on!

I'll update my progress once I get the hexagons sewn together! I used a few different tutorials to help me along the way, but I think I mainly used this blog, Texas Freckles. Just google "English paper piecing" or "hexagon quilt" and you will find loads of tutorials and information!

Sometimes I can't believe I'm going to this much work for a quilt for my 5-year old daughter, but it actually makes me really happy and I have no regrets! I love that it has ties to England and hopefully it will be a special keepsake for years to come!

Summer Dress

I love wearing skirts and dresses in the summer. It isn't always warm enough here in England to go out with bare legs, but I'm calling this my "Italy Dress" since we are going there in July and I can't wait to stroll around in HOT weather in a comfy dress with no layers! I used the Scout Tee pattern as the top (but I think I might shorten the sleeves... and I'll probably bring the shoulder seams in a bit on the next one I make). Then I added a gathered skirt and an elastic casing, front pockets (using this tutorial) and a hi-low hem on the bottom.

I got this polyester fabric at Girl Charlee and it is wonderful. I really love the colors and the pattern and it is a great weight. I'm really happy with how this dress turned out! I want to make more, but I need to be realistic about how many dresses I actually need. :)

Scout Tee

I feel a little rusty on my pattern-making skills since I've taken such a long break from sewing. I wanted to make something that I didn't have to think too much about, so I finally tried out a Scout Tee. It was a straightforward pattern and makes a really nice finished product. I got this fabric at Girl Charlee and I really, really love it! This is my favorite style of shirt to wear, and I know I'll be wearing it all the time!

Matching

I got this lovely floral fabric from Girl Charlee last summer, and had just enough to get two simple t-shirts out of it! My mom actually made one for herself a while ago, too, so we are all matching!

These are really simple shirts - just a top shoulder seam, no set in sleeves, and self-fabric neck and arm binding. So quick!

Tunic

I made this tunic for Anna out of a fun skirt a friend handed down to me (Jill, was it you??). I love the embroidery and the colors and the cute puffy sleeves. Another comfy top!