Stripes and Herringbone quilt

This quilt started when I spotted the free Stripes & Herringbone Robert Kaufman pattern and I've unimaginatively just copied the colour scheme used in the pattern!  I am very pleased with how this one turned out but I did struggle a bit with it for a number of reasons.  Trying to match up irregular stripes on the bias is.. impossible of course but I still wanted it to look vaguely in line so this took a while. The yellow and white stripes are sewn together with wavy stitching. This wasn't hard to sew but was a nightmare to press!






Finished Stripes & herringbone quilt

This is the first quilt in a while that I bought fabric specifically for, the striped fabric. Which of course I now can't remember the name or brand, or where I bought it.  It's a lovely irregular cream & black stripe.  The yellow is Kona cotton in curry which again I had bought more of for my Maritime quilt.  The white is from a lovely duvet cover I got in a charity shop, 100% cotton. I almost kept it to use as a duvet cover but needed it for quilting more.  The backing is more of the John Lewis charity shop find duvet cover which I used for my maritime quilt and an in-progress quilt for my son. Again it's 100% cotton, great quality cotton. 

close-up of backing fabric



 This is a free pattern and I did find the instructions a little bit on the minimal side but then there were quite a few new techniques for me so it probably wouldn't be a hard sew for a more experienced quilter.  The quilting is done with wavy lines on the yellow and white lines which was easier than I expected.  The straight line quilting on the black & cream though, that took me a while.  I started by sewing lines at regular intervals but I didn't like how this was looking as some of the quilting was on the black and some on the cream.  I unpicked it all and sewed all the quilting lines in the cream section without worrying about making them regular.  The bias binding was machine stitched to the front then hand sewn on the back with a blind stitch.  I find making quilts very therapeutic, I saw a comment on instagram today that I can't locate now but it was someone working on a beautiful quilt who commented that they found turning their scraps into an intricate design to be a form of therapy and I could totally relate to that.  There is something so satisfying about creating something that you know will be played on, sat on, slept on, used for warmth, for comfort, and I think this is why quiltmaking has become so important to me.  I get such a sense of wellbeing out of creating a quilt as well as a lot of enjoyment out of all the different stages of the process. Does sewing provide this for you? Or other creative outlets perhaps?

close-up of wavy line quilting

It was really good to sew a quilt with a few different techniques and I'm really pleased with how this turned out.  It is now with its new owner and hopefully being played on already! Next up with quilts? Time to get the quilting done on the quilt I've made for our son's new bedroom!

another photo to give you an idea of the finished size