After the very inspiring Fabric Selection Phase and Design Phase, Chumkie continues with the next step in her quest to quilt an Asian Inspired Wall Piece...
An Asian Inspired Wall Quilt - Part 3
The Construction Phase
During the design phase, the fabrics for the lanterns were picked out and using the foil wrapped method, paper pieced into hexagon shapes.
6 hexagons
Using Clover bias adhesive-backed tape, two rows of three hexagons were placed on a white background.
2 rows of 3 hexagons placed on white background
The next step was to finalize the arrangement. The rope and lanterns were repositioned and ironed in place. But something seemed odd, so hangers were added to the lanterns.
Hangers were added to lanterns
This looked much more like Japanese lanterns. It was now time to sew all the bias strips and hexagons down onto the white background. All bias taped surfaces were zig-zagged in place. Look closely at the lanterns and notice the edge stitching with black thread.
All pieces sewn in place
It was now time to add the first set of borders. 1 inch black strips were folded in half, sewn to each side of the white square and pressed towards the white fabric.
1st set of vertical borders added
Horizontal borders were added in the same way.
All four borders sewn in place
In Part 4 of this series, the final assembly will be completed, so watch for that segment in the near future!
An Asian Inspired Wall Quilt - Part 4
The Final Assembly Phase
Adding the Borders
I tweaked the first border to change the straight piping to a rick-rack and like it much better.
1st rick-rack border
Having got that all squared away, it was time to put on the 2nd set of borders. To square up the quilt, I always measure through the center of the quilt, first horizontally, and then vertically. I also tend to apply the horizontal borders first and then the vertical ones, to give the quilt a long, slim look. Doing it the other way makes it look shorter, somehow.
To determine the length (or width) of the borders,
measure through the center of the quilt
The border strips were cut at 1-1/2" for a finished width of 1"
Second border
and attached. Prior to sewing them on, each border was folded in half and at the half mark, pinned to the center point of each side and along the sides of the quilt.
Quilt with second borders attached
Assembling the Layers of the Quilt
Time now to layer the quilt with the backing fabric and batting. The black backing fabric was cut 3 inches bigger than the quilt top, and the creases were ironed out.
Backing fabric is ironed to remove creases
It was then folded in half twice and pressed to aid in the placement of the batting and quilt top.
Backing fabric folded in half twice and pressed
The same is done with the batting.
Batting
The batting is cut to the same size as the backing fabric.
The batting is cut to size
Now it's time to assemble the three layers. The backing is taped to the table using painter's tape, and the batting, that is also folded in half twice, is placed on the right top segment of the backing.
Folded batting placed on taped backing fabric
The first fold of the batting is opened to the left.
Batting is unfolded
Then opened all the way and smoothed out over the backing fabric.
Batting is smoothed over the backing
The quilt top is aligned in the center of the batting and backing.
Quilt top is centered on batting and backing
Pinning the Layers Together
The necessary tools and equipment are laid out - brass safety pins, a little bouncy ball because I don't have a marble and a curious tool, called a Quick Klip, to help in closing the safety pins.
Tools for pinning
Here are some other tools that can be used in place of the Quick Klip - a popsicle stick, teaspoon or seam ripper. These save your fingers from being pricked while closing the pins.
Other tools for pinning
The bouncy ball is slid under the quilt sandwich and placed in the center. This raises the quilt off the table top and will save the surface of the table from pin pricks.
Bouncy ball raises quilt off the table top
The safety pins are left open when first inserted and then, using any one of the tools above, are closed one at a time. The tool acts as an extra finger to avoid handling the sharp end of the safety pin with bare fingers.
Safety pin is closed using tool
Here is the fully pinned quilt
Quilt is all pinned
Quilting the Quilt
Once the quilt is pinned, it is easily transported to the sewing machine. In order to stabilize the quilt, it is quilted-in-the-ditch within the seams of the second borders.
Quilted-in-the-ditch within seams of borders
I decided to quilt a cross-hatch through all three layers of the quilt. Beginning at the center diagonal, 1" painter's tape is adhered from corner to corner. Another length of tape is applied right next to it. This acts as a 'spacer' so that another length can be placed adjacent to it.
Painter's tape used to mark lines for cross-hatching
The 'spacer' is then moved adjacent to the most recently applied length of tape, and so on, until the entire quilt top is gridded. The two pieces of tape in the top right corner are there because there is a tiny corner section that needs to be quilted. Once that is done, the smallest piece of tape will be removed and the quilt top will be quilted on either side of each length of tape. The cross-hatching wil end up being one inch apart.
Gridded quilt top
Here is the quilted wall hanging.
Completed cross-hatching
In Part 5 - The Binding and Finishing Phase, strips for french-fold binding will be made and the wall hanging will be bound and finished.
An Asian Inspired Wall Quilt - Part 5
The Binding and Finishing Phase
This, in my opinion, is the most enjoyable part of making a quilt. The piecing is complete, the quilting is done and we're almost at the finish line.
Pieced and Quilted
Determine Width and Length of Binding
It's now time to decide how to finish the quilt. I like French double-fold binding which gives a professional finish to a quilt. For this wall hanging a half-inch binding will look good, so I cut the strips three times that width multiplied by two, to accommodate the double fold.
Width of binding strip = 1/2" x 3 = 1-1/2" x 2 = 3".
To determine the length of binding needed, multiply the width and length of the quilt by 2, add the two numbers together and add a fudge factor of at lease 10 inches. In this case, the wall hanging is square and each side measures 14-1/4".
Length of binding = (14-1/4" x 2) + (14-1/4" x 2) or 14-1/4" x 4 = 59" + 10" = 69".
Considering the width of fabric from selvage to selvage is about 40", I need two 3" strips for the binding.
Attach Two Strips of Binding
Once the strips are cut, lay one strip right side up, horizontally, on the ironing board. Lay the second strip right side facing down, perpendicular to the first strip and fold down the top end at a 45 degree angle. Press to form a crease.
Lay two strips on ironing board
Open the fold and pin the two strips on either side of the crease.
Pin the two strips together
Sew along the crease, trim 1/4" away from the seam, press the seam open and trim off any protruding triangles of fabric even with the edges of the strips.
Attaching two strips of binding
Repeat this process to attach the required number strips, always placing the last attached strip face up and the new strip face down and perpendicular to the last attached strip.
Once all the strips are sewn together, I find it useful to place a quarter inch strip of double-sided adhesive tape at the end of the last strip. The end is folded down at a 45 degree angle and the adhesive strip placed a little more than a quarter inch away from the fold. A glue stick can be used for this purpose, but if glue is used it will have to be applied later. This trick comes in handy when the finishing touches are applied to the binding.
Fold end at 45 degree angle and place adhesive strip
Fold the binding down the length of the strip and press.
Fold binding and press
Attach Binding to Quilt
The end with the adhesive strip is the beginning of the binding. Leaving a length of about 6 to 8 inches, align the raw edges of the binding with the edge of the quilt and begin sewing about two-thirds of the way down one side of the quilt. Since the binding finishes at 1/2", stop sewing 1/2" from each corner of the quilt. With the needle in the down position, lift the presser foot and turn the quilt so the corner is at the top. Lower the presser foot and back-stitch off the edge of the quilt.
Begin sewing 2/3 of the way down one side
Remove the quilt from the presser foot without cutting any threads. Fold the binding up at a 45 degree angle, aligning it with the corner of the quilt.
Fold binding up 45 degrees and align with corner
Fold it down again, even with the top edge of the quilt and align raw edges with the side of the quilt.
Fold binding down again
Begin sewing at the top edge of the quilt and all the way around, treating each corner as
demonstrated above.
Sew binding to quilt all the way around
Leave a long tail so that the two ends can be sewn together. This takes some manipulation. I'll try to be as clear as possible.
Open up the beginning of the binding and remove the protective paper from the adhesive strip. If using a glue stick, now is the time to apply it. Make sure to leave a 1/4" clearance beyond the 45 degree fold.
Expose adhesive on strip
Nestle the end of the binding over the adhesive strip and within the fold of the start of the binding. Cut it even with or even a little longer than the raw edge of the 45 degree fold.
Cut excess from end of binding
Fold the beginning strip over the ending strip and press to adhere the two strips together. Now open both strips and maneuver the two until the crease is on the top. Pin on either side of the crease and sew along the crease.
Sew beginning and ending strips together
Trim 1/4" from the seam and press the seam open.
Trim and press seam open
Fold the binding in half with a snap and Voila! we have a perfectly lump-free binding. Sew the remaining binding and we're almost done!
Sew rest of binding
Trim away excess batting and backing fabric, leaving 1/4" around the edge of the quilt.
Trim 1/4" from edge of quilt
We're now ready for the finishing touches!
All ready for the finishing touches
Finishing the Quilt
I found these cute little hair clips at the dollar store. They were perfect for holding the binding in place while folding the binding to the back of the quilt.
Fold binding to back of quilt
Make sure the binding on the back covers the line of stitching from the previous step. Fold the binding past the corner and then fold down the corner for a perfect miter.
Cover the stitching from the previous step
Pin the corner, if necessary, to hold it in place.
Pin corner
Turn the quilt over to the front and quilt in-the-ditch to finish the quilt.
Quilt in-the-ditch
And here's the finished quilt!
The finished quilt
This bring us to the end of my journey as I've taken this little 15" square quilt from start to finish. I'm so glad it didn't end up in my UFO (unfinished object) bin!
-Chumkie
-Chumkie
