Red & White Quilt……a Finish…………

As I have shared in previous posts (here and here), I prepped a quilt to demo fmq at our annual quilt event held last Friday/Saturday. Doing the stitching on my DSM (domestic sewing machine) attracted more interest than I imagined it would! I was totally thrilled to share the fact that such quilting/stitching absolutely can be done on a small machine. Anyhow, the quilt was finished up and washed and here are some photos to journal the final part of the process……………………………….

  These show the quilt before washing. My goal, once again, was to demonstrate how to stitch a motif in a larger scale that would appear to have been done on a “long-arm” machine. Ms. Juki performed beautifully!!!!

Given the fact that I do NOT pre-wash my fabrics ‘cuz I want max shrinkage for that super crinkly/heirloom quilt effect, I was curious as to how much dye would be lost and how much “bleed over” would be encountered. I threw in 3 “Shout Color Catchers” and a white dish towel (for the ‘control’ piece!!!! LOL!) and used “Woolite Everyday” laundry soap (non-detergent/very gentle) as I always do when washing a quilt. Here’s a photo of the Color Catchers/towel…..   A fair amount of color loss but not as much as I had anticipated!!!! I will wash the quilt a couple more times with the Color Catchers as just one washing does not complete the possibility of future dye runs. Here is the finished/washed/crinkly result. The backing is a bright pink/red batik…..love it!!!!!!!

   If you compare the first photos with these last ones, the difference is quite apparent. The shrinkage, both directions, was just under 4” (which has been my experience) and within the 3” to 5” reduction that is to be expected when there’s no pre-wash. The white is a bleached muslin and the batik backing were purchased at Hancock Fabrics and are very nice. The red mottled was purchased at a little local shop in Mabel, MN, called Krazy Kwiltz. I buy a lot of my fabric/backings at this location…….small but great selection!!!! The thread used is Aurifil Mako 50 (cotton) on the top and Connecting Threads Essential Pro Poly in the bobbin. I still have Version 3 of this “Disappearing Pinwheel” to do but that will have to wait a bit!!!! Have an awesome week and thanks, again, for taking a bit of your time to ‘pop’ in for a visit!!!!!! Blessings…………………………