Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Taming "The Beast"

Have you ever bitten off more than you could chew? I definitely did on this project. I was so excited about making a quilt out of neckties, that I never gave a thought to all the logistics of completing it. Early this summer, I finally got the ties sewn together into a circle for the middle of the quilt, and was completely in shock at how heavy it ended up. At that point I was at a loss as to how to attach it to the thin, silky sheet the customer chose for the background. I decided to lay it out with the backing and batting and pin baste it to the top, then quilt the ties to the background.

This started out fairly well, until I realized that I had a bit of rippling going on. So I folded it uop for later. After a couple months of languishing under the dining room bar, I decided it was time to pull up my big girl panties and finish up this monstrosity. I adjusted pins and kept quilting the ties down, figuring the bulk of the ties wasn't going to allow for a perfectly flat quilt, and it would be fine in the end. After the ties were all quilted I had to quilt the remaining background.
I marked lines from the seams of the ties out to the edges and stitched those. I'm not entirely sure it's enough quilting, but I'm afraid that more quilting would just magnify the problems that the center already has. So I am leaving it as is, and getting another opinion tomorrow.

I decided to applique a padded center circle to cover the gap in the center, figuring that the extra bulk was needed to balance the thickness of the tier. It looks pretty good, and did work to stabilize the poof that was forming in the center. The back is a little rough, but not horribly so.
Last, but not least, bias edging on a scalloped edge per the customers request. Haven't done this in a while, and it took an afternoon of hand-stitching, but it's done now!
This is a super heavy quilt. Would probably be very warm if any one ever wanted to actually sleep under it! I think it's just meant to be a show piece, so I hope my customer is happy with the results - I'm not 100% satisfied myself, but it was an experiment and I learned a lot. I am just happy to call it done!

12 comments:

Pam Geisel - For Quilts Sake said...

Good job! Ties are difficult to work with, unless you want to take all the interfacing out, and that's a job by itself.

Pamela said...

Thanks - it would have been much easier if I had taken out the interfacing, but was trying to do this the "quickest" way. Lesson learned! If I ever do one again, I'll be charging a lot more!

quiltingfrenzy said...

Wonderful quilt! I have made simple blocks using ties and I know how tricky working with them can be. What I did is remove the interfacing and added fusible interfacing to give them some stability since they are cut on the bias.

DownHome Designs said...

Pam, it looks great! Like a huge dresden plate! I like it! : )If you took the interfacing out it might be more dificult to work with the bias of the fabric.

Terry Aske Art Quilts said...

Pam, this looks beautiful!

pchickki said...

OMG Pam! This is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen! What creativity you have !
You just keep getting better and better (if that is possible)

Pat V. said...

This is unique and gorgeous! What a project, you certainly hit a home run with this one. I have never seen anything like it.

June Calender said...

It's gorgeous but I can imagine what a lot of work and that it must be very heavy. I saw it in Selvageblog, also the selvage bag which inspires me to made a similar one sometime soon.

simplestitches said...

wow, what a gorgeous quilt...well done!
looks like a huge job, but looks great.

(saw it on the selvageblog)
cheers Julz

OliveStreetStudio said...

OMG - how great is that? AND you gave me an idea for a project for all my husbands unused ties. :-)

Happy 2012! Here is hoping you have lots of sales in the new year!

QuiltinWayne said...

Fantastic Job Pamela. .. ...

Quilt Chick said...

I have a customer who is wanting a quilt similar to this made from her father's ties. Do you have any tips you would like to share? I would love to have some input from someone who has done this before. I don't mind being contacted via email either: cslig@centex.net. Thanks!