'Man - Sewing' with Guy from Brother Sewing UK Part Three
Following on from our blog post on 29th June, this is part three, following the creation of a quilt made from baby grows, by a complete novice - man sewer!
Sew all the pieces together into rows, then sew all the rows together. Every time, making sure that you’re using a ¼ inch seam allowance (using the ¼ inch foot), sewing face together and butterflying the seams properly.
TIP: Sew from the middle outwards, and pay close attention when going over the seams, to ensure they match up nicely.
Eventually your quilt really begins to take shape. At this stage, each seam should be pressed or ironed so that they remain butterflied open. This should mean that there’s no extra lumpy bits in the top layer of your completed quilt.
When the front of your quilt is fully pieced together and ironed, pin your wadding and backing fabric to it – back to back – so you have the front of the quilt, then the wadding, then the backing fabric all pinned together. The easiest way is to pin from the centre seams outwards, this way you’re ensuring the backing fabric shouldn’t ruffle up. I found a pin at each join helped!
Next, using the Dual Feed Stitch in the Ditch Foot, and a centre align stitch I needed to top stitch my quilt together.
Starting in the middle of the quilt, and working downwards, I placed the black guide of the stitch in the ditch foot into the seams and sewed a straight stitch along the entire length of the seam. This ensures all the layers of quilt are joined. Once each seam is sewn over, the quilted effect begins to take shape.
Eventually your many pieces of fabric, wadding and backing fabric will really start to look a proper quilt!
However, the really difficult bit comes next -attaching the Bias Binding!
I used the Adjustable Bias Binding Foot which can be used on most Brother machines. As I’m a novice, I did find attaching the binding pretty fiddly and unfortunately completely forgot to take photos of the process!
However I have since learnt another Top Tip:
Use a basting stitch or long straight stitch to sew around the very edge of your quilt before attaching the bias binding. This way, all the pieces are sandwiched together tightly, and the process should be far less fiddly! Hind sight hey?!
The finished Bias Binding should look something like this – finishing the edges of the quilt, so there’s no rough edges. Try and get a straight line of stitching to make it look as decent as possible. I’ve picked the good areas for my photos!
And so – after quite a lot of unpicking, swearing (!) and re-sewing; but also lots of enjoyment, the quilt is completed. Total time spent approximately 12 hours. One happy sister and one even happier Niece!
Brother products that were used in the creation of this quilt include:
Sew all the pieces together into rows, then sew all the rows together. Every time, making sure that you’re using a ¼ inch seam allowance (using the ¼ inch foot), sewing face together and butterflying the seams properly.
TIP: Sew from the middle outwards, and pay close attention when going over the seams, to ensure they match up nicely.
When the front of your quilt is fully pieced together and ironed, pin your wadding and backing fabric to it – back to back – so you have the front of the quilt, then the wadding, then the backing fabric all pinned together. The easiest way is to pin from the centre seams outwards, this way you’re ensuring the backing fabric shouldn’t ruffle up. I found a pin at each join helped!
Starting in the middle of the quilt, and working downwards, I placed the black guide of the stitch in the ditch foot into the seams and sewed a straight stitch along the entire length of the seam. This ensures all the layers of quilt are joined. Once each seam is sewn over, the quilted effect begins to take shape.
However, the really difficult bit comes next -attaching the Bias Binding!
I used the Adjustable Bias Binding Foot which can be used on most Brother machines. As I’m a novice, I did find attaching the binding pretty fiddly and unfortunately completely forgot to take photos of the process!
However I have since learnt another Top Tip:
Use a basting stitch or long straight stitch to sew around the very edge of your quilt before attaching the bias binding. This way, all the pieces are sandwiched together tightly, and the process should be far less fiddly! Hind sight hey?!
Brother products that were used in the creation of this quilt include:
- Brother Innov-is VQ2 Long Arm Quilting Machine - RRP £1,999
- Dual Feed Foot for V series Machines – DF1 – RRP £249.99
- Stitch in the Ditch Dual Feed Foot – XG3155001 – RRP £15.79
- 1/4 Inch Piecing Foot for Dual Feed – XG4868001 – RRP £15.79
- Adjustable Bias Binding Foot – XF7243001 – RRP £24.99
All these items can be purchased from your local independent dealer, who can be found here: Dealer Locator
For more info visit our website: Brother Sewing UK
For more info visit our website: Brother Sewing UK
Well done, as an intermediate quilter I have avoided using stretchy fabric but your babygrow quilt is lovely. I may try using stretch fabric in future now as I have the same machine and the above equipment. Keep quilting, best wishes, Quiltnut from Chester.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job Guy, sewing with jersey fabrics is very tricky. I don't think I would attempt a whole quilt of them!
ReplyDelete