Further Quilt Repair
I just so happened to find a chunk of quilt at some thrifting something I was at awhile back. Someone had taken a commercially made quilt, I think from Target, and cut a chunk off of it. I got the chunk for a couple bucks. It’s long and skinny, the perfect length and width for laying on the couch! Booyah, person who gave away their quilt chunk! What were you thinking?
Of course, there was one long edge that was just open to the world, and we can’t have that. How indecent! So I took it to the craft store with me and pipcked some quilt edging that matched. The important part of this terribly blurry-because-I-craft-at-night picture is where it says “Extra Wide Double Fold”. There are several kinds of this stuff (quilt binding? quilt edging? I’m not sure), but the double fold means that this thin strip of fabric is folded in half, and in half again, so that the edges are all tucked inside. I prefer the look and feel of that to the single fold. And be careful, because there is some that’s not folded at all, and I don’t even see the point of that.
Flapjack has fallen in love with this quilt btw, and was an adorable impediment the entire time I was working on it.
I opened up one package of the binding, and started jamming it onto the edge of the quilt. This process is a bit tricky. I left an extra inch or so hanging off the end so I could tuck it in later. Your goal is to get the edge of the quilt pressed into the crease on the binding, so that the binding wraps around the edge. You will sew through the bottom edge of the binding, through the quilt, and through the binding on the other side. My sewing machine can’t handle that, so I did it by hand. (There’s Flapjack again. Aren’t you jealous of how cute my dog is??)
Once I had one whole edge sewn down, I went back, tucked the ends in, and sewed them shut. Here’s the finished end, but I had to use the flash so the colors aren’t great.
The hardest part for me was keeping the central fold of the binding touching the raw edge of the quilt. It kept creeping upwards, so I would end up with very little quilt to sew through. I think I did a pretty good job, other than that. For now, I have only completed on edge, and I’m not sure if I’ll do the others. The colors look cool as they are, and I have to complete NEW crafts for you piranhas. You’re insatiable!
Quilt Repair Finale
A few of you may remember one of my early blog posts about repairing this quilt. It’s a family hand-me-down from the 80’s or 90’s, and it was in rough shape by the time I got it. There were whole pieces missing or loose. Clever Chick to the rescue!
Techinically, Clever Chick’s Mom to the rescue also! Once I had the majority of the repairs done, and a whole new sheet tacked on the back, I passed it off to her for the quilting part. She has some super amazing sewing machine that can quilt all that crap together. I don’t, so she stepped up. She even put edging all the way around. The corners, however, seemed to foil even her mad skills.
The first thing I did was make sure the edging lined up with the edges of the quilt. I then folded one end inside itself, and sewed it shut.
Like this:
After that, I folded the other side over, and trimmed off some extra, leaving the end to extend about half an inch past the edge of the quilt.
I folded the raw edge under and pinned it in place, like so:
I then sewed that shut. It’s not the most square corner ever made, but the other 3 worked better, and this was my first one ever, so that’s probably pretty good.
Plus, I had to stop and take pictures every two minutes for you people, so it’s not perfect. Yes, maybe I was a little distracted watching True Blood (Team Alcide!!), but wouldn’t you be with this guy on the screen??
Be really careful googling more pictures of him online; there are LOTS with his shirt off. I think I had a tiny heart attack while finding this one. But I had to choose just the perfect picture. For you. Yeah, for you, the readers. I have lost the ability to form sentences. So, the end. Enjoy!
My Attempts at Cleverness 