Designing The Split Herringbone Quilt: Part 1

 

As we know I found this amazing fabric print (Alison Glass, Art Theory) online  and I thought it was beautiful, I really love the concept so I decided to try and make it a quilt top.

I started off by drawing different size blocks and the hardest part was the middle section, I liked the wat it look when it was quite small (about 1/4'') but I knew that would be a total nightmare to try to make so I drew a 1/2'' middle section moved on to sewing it up because as we knew what works on paper doesn't always translate to fabric 

First I tried to strip piece it using scrap fabric from my stash, I sewed together alternative colour  and background fabric. 

The first attempt is the one on the left - the  red fabric was all different widths and the grey was 1/2 wide when sewn.

Although I still liked the look I still thought the grey looked to wide, so using more of the same fabric I sewed it together with the grey finishing at 1/4'' wide and I liked this look much better.

I chose to make the block with the split down one side because I thought that would be the hardest part (and I was right) and I wanted to know it if was possible and let me tell you trying to match the different sides together was a nightmare but I think it was worth it, this type of block will stand out in the quilt and make it a little bit different.

This is the part where I discovered that the pattern already existed.

Alison Glass obviously had the same thought I did about this being a beautiful quilt top and designed a pattern which is available to buy in loads of different places.

I decided to go my own way and carry on designing my own version before I knew of this one.

The only part I took into consideration is that this pattern is made using foundation paper - something which I have not done before but I thought I would give it a shot to see how it went.

Check out Part Two so see how I got on.

Foundation Paper Piecing... a new frontier

Confession - I have never used foundation paper before, The Split Herringbone is going to be a first for me.

I researched foundation paper and found one that was kinda in my budget, but then I was completely stumped on how to print my block drawings onto it! I guess if its a brought pattern it would include a PDF but I am no where near proficient enough on a computer to know where to start with that... so frugality strikes again and instead I have gone for greaseproof paper, a pencil and ruler! I'm sure there are many reasons not to use these items and instead go with the proper foundation paper but whatever, I will see how it works and if its awful I know not to do it again 

I have drawn out all 98 blocks and let me tell you printing would have been a hell of a lot faster and easier!

With foundation piecing the block is reversed so I got incredibly confused about how many of a block I needed and in what direction it had to face - complete headache! I'll try to write a post about the prosses

Split Herringbone Quilt

Having pondered the idea for awhile I decided to go with the Alison Glass inspired quilt top - Which I am going to call Split Herringbone Quilt from now on because that's what it reminded me of when I first saw it.

For the last few days I have been figuring out the sizes of everything I need and I came up with this...

70''X70''

There will be 98 blocks but this is comprised of 23 block designs - I did so many because I wanted it to look as random as possible.

I did the math to work out how much backing fabric I would need - that included lots of swearing, a crap ton of paper and many confused moments but I think I managed it in the end.

My math put it at 3.5 metres (with very little to spare) so hopefully it all works out, we shall see when the fabric arrives in a few days.

Morally questionable...

No I don't buy patterns and it is a morally grey area for me.

On one hand I am poor, the little bit of money I have to spend on my hobby could be spent on something more substantial than a bit of paper - like the actual fabric to make the bloody thing.

I got 7 fat quarters of solid fabric and 2 metres of white that already added up to just under £40! That isn't even including the wadding, backing fabric or binding! (which is something people who say I should sell my quilts fail to take into consideration - its a lot more money than people realize).

On the other hand the amount of work that goes into creating a pattern must be astronomical. 

Thinking of a pattern (hard), working out the math (even harder), testing it (not only yourself but by other quilters to make sure the instructions make sense), distributing the thing (no idea how you would do this), advertising it (also not a clue)... I'm sure there are 100 other things that I have missed because I have never done it. All of that deserves compensation. 

But I always come back to the first point... I don't have the money - if I did I would totally buy patterns and save myself the extra days work trying to figure it out, plus I would know how much fabric I would need and I wouldn't have to make an educated guess.

I guess my only saving grace is that all my quilts are gifts for people I know and not being sold - that would be completely wrong and that because I work out the piecing myself it's never quite the same as the original pattern. 

Sisters 40th Birthday

 Look I'm back! (I know I'm shocked too)

My next big project is my other sisters (Jo) 40th birthday quilt (Emma got one so it'd probably be bad form not to give Jo one 😄)

Which leads me on to the next bit... what to do!? Emma's' quilt just sort of happened organically so I didn't have to come up with a plan... its happening differently this time around!
I have been looking around for a while, taking screen shots/pinning quilt patterns that peaked my interest (as you do) and I thought I'd found it...

Confetti Stars! Its colourful, deceptively simple and there was a tutorial done on by Missouri Star Quilt Company (click here for that).
The tutorial used Bee Basics by Lori Holt (which I loved) and layer cakes (and I have none of those!).
I started searching online but I couldn't find any of that collection and alas I couldn't find any other ones in my price range that I liked... but brain wave - solids! who doesn't love a solid colour quilt?! 
I looked through my stash and for some reason I have a crap ton of blue but everything else was seriously low on options... more online shopping! I was looking around one of my favourite online stores (plushaddict.co.uk) and this lovely print by Alison Glass came on my screen

Rainbow Feathers - Art Theory 

and that was it, bye bye Confetti Stars hello random print that I had to try and make into a quilt. 

I sat down with my paper, pencil and all the other bits I needed and set to work trying to figure it out.

It took lots of drawing to sort of get the sizing right but drawing are not the same a fabric - I got some of my random bits of fabric and sewed a couple of different sizes together

Basically I sewed it together like it was a herringbone but added the middle bit - getting the parts on the left side to line up was a bitch challenge but I thought it worked out pretty well.... the next bit is the kicker

I was googling something to do with the print, (I don't remember what but I'm annoyed I didn't do it sooner) and up pops 

Its already a pattern!! What an idiot.
That being said I don't buy patterns, I'm a girl on a budget! So I googled the pattern some more to figure out if there was a better way of doing it and I found out that the proper pattern is foundation paper pieced - that's a whole other ball game that I had not considered, so off I went with this new found knowledge to try and make a better way of doing it and I totally did

more random bits of fabric I had became this lovely block. BOOM revolutionary!

My ever changing nature though could not leave it alone so I've found other patterns I'm thinking about 

I'm still leaning towards the Feathers pattern though. I'm gonna ponder it for awhile, I don't want to start something and not love it half way though.

Ha told you I would be back

 This one is actually something I was working on when I last blogged in 2016 (if you can remember that far back), hot damn those WIP really sick around huh?

It was this bad boy...

Yep more EPP! The pattern was called Ferris Wheel and I worked on it for a while (on and off, you know how it is) and it ended up like this

I ended up giving it to my Mum for a Christmas present... which she loved (because shes been loving crap I've made her since I was 5, she really doesn't have a choice at this stage).

The back looks like this...

                     That's right, more hexis!

Pintrest strikes again with this black and white backing, I can't find the original picture but I loved how both the white and the black made the colours pop so I thought I'd give it a go... not sure it translated quite how I wanted it to but hey-ho thats how it goes sometimes

I hand quilted it using different colour embroidery thread and it gave it a nice poofy look

ok so I'm definitely not a blogger....

 5 years?! I have no excuse except that I totally forgot I had a blog (and I use the term 'had' very loosely)

I have been doing stuff over the last 5 years, but for the life of me I cant remember what!

There have been 2 more babies so its safe to assume 2 more baby quilts - what they where is anyone's guess (I'm currently trolling though my one drive in search of pictures!). Honestly its kind of annoying me that I can't remember, I'm a bad honorary aunt! 

My oldest sister turned 40... there was definitely a quilt for that

Emmas 40th

This was an EPP one, I love Hexis and had/have a giant box I'm slowly working my way though, I was working on some and I thought why not use some for Emma's birthday? so I sorted though and found her favourite colours (purple and pink for those of you who couldn't guess), obviously ordered some more fabric in those colours and set about the longest project EVER! 

The EPP took a really long time, especially as I was trying to keep it a secret so would have to hide it whenever she came to visit, but I enjoy a bit (or a lot) of mindless sewing so it suited me!
I'm not going to lie, the fact that the E is not in the middle of the 'back' annoys the hell out of me, but by the time I realized it was to late so I just learned to live with it (at least its only the back!)

I was actually about a month late with this and the way I chose to quilt it in no way helped!

Not the best picture, but what you gonna do?

I started off  by quilting hexi shapes in different sizes, then between those shapes I did straight lines it different widths, directions and colours.
I really liked how the quilting turned out, it was different than anything I had done before and I think it looks good - my sister likes it anyway which is the important thing!  

There was another one I'm going to looks for pictures of... I'll be back... probably.. maybe... we will see