Sunday, February 19, 2012

Strip the rainbow

As usual, my day job is killing any energy, time or enthusiasm for sewing during the week. But this morning I had half an hour spare before swimming to do a quick test for colourfastness on the Kona Cotton Roll-up.

I'd done my research and other quilters seemed to think that the Kona Cotton was very coloourfast, but I like to check things out for myself. It's pretty simple to test for colourfastness. Just snip a bit off the end of each roll in the colours you are most worried about. In my case, it was the reds, purples and blues I had concerns with. You also need to cut a strip of your background fabric.

Line Art Quilt - process

Thoroughly wet all the pieces of fabric, and then lay the little pieces flat on the background fabric strip. Press down on the fabric with your fingers, and then put somewhere to dry.

Once dry, lift your fabric pieces off the background fabric, and make sure they haven't "bled" into it. Good news! Mine passed the test!

Line Art Quilt - process

While I was out swimming this morning, Ange started her Line Art quilt. And it looks so, so, SO good! When I came home I was put to work in the garden for a couple of hours which put me way behind. But after lunch I had the energy to cut out my coloured strips.

Line Art Quilt - process

And then I put them on the design wall in the order I wanted to sew them. This was more fun than I'd imagined, working out which shades look the best together. I'm going with a rainbow theme. Looks pretty good on the off-white flannel, doesn't it?

Line Art Quilt - progress

By the end of the afternoon I'd cut 10 strips of the grellow fabric and attached them to the top 10 coloured strips. I think I'm stopping there for today - I might finish cutting out the 27 more grellow strips, but I think the rest of the evening will be spent finishing this.

9 comments:

  1. OH EM GEE! I love it! Seriously that solid background colour was such a rad choice!

    I love that we both approached it so differently. I did minimal cutting - didn't even take the salvage off (and every time I sew up to it I think of you!) and you've tidied your strips and laid them all out in the order you're going to do them.

    I'm just sewing them in the order they were on the roll and winging the placement as I go. It's going to be a little interesting to see if it works!

    Can't wait to see more of your quilt(s)!

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    1. I don't mean to be a nag about the selvedge! But it's good you're thinking of me ;)

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  2. looks amazing dude!
    I defo see one of these quilts in my future with all the inspiration from you and ange!
    x

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    1. Yes! You should do it! I don't think this will be my last Line Art quilt - I'm thinking you could get two baby quilts out of two jelly rolls. Could be fun!

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  3. Looks fantastic. Going to be such a happy quilt.

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  4. I just love this! Love the colours, love the design. Very very cool. And happy.

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    1. Happy is exactly what I'm going for. I wish I have more understanding of blues and purples though - I don't think I have the colour progression right at all at the bottom end of the quilt. Will have to think some more about it.

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  5. Oh I love the boldness of this Michelle. Stripes and colour = YUM!

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  6. This is breathtaking! Lots of color (in a rainbow no less) and stripes? I love it!

    I would love to try one of these. Since all the cutting/sewing is straight lines... I think me and my mediocre sewing skills might be able to manage?

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