Scrappy Strip-Pieced Star Quilt (Part 2)

Part 1 of this post can be found here. 

After getting the squares all sewn together in (hopefully) the right direction (!), I thought about what I could use for a border.

After auditioning several fabrics, I chose a light green grunge fabric for the borders.  At this point my quilt top measured about 76" square. 

Then, as I searched through my stash for some fabric for the back, I came across this yummy piece of Kaffe Fassett.  It was not quite wide enough for this quilt back.  But it was long enough so I decided to start with the KF fabric, and add to it.

More strip-piecing came to the rescue!!  I knew that I needed to add about 15" on each side of the KF fabric to make it wide enough for the backing.  I found some unbleached muslin that was just the right size for a foundation, so I started some more stripping!

Adding strips to the muslin fabric, and then pressing each strip down.

This is one of the long strips that I sewed to add to the backing fabric.  I made two of these strips, one for each side of the quilt back.

As I'm sewing along on this project of scraps, it's really interesting to "travel along memory lane" as I come to fabrics that I have used in the past for other projects.  Some are real favorites.  Here are a few.

This is some wonderful "bread fabric" that I found and used for aprons at TwoFish Baking Company.

The pretty blue floral here was the main fabric for my President's Quilt.

The green print in the center is some of HarmonyArt's organic cotton.  Along with a favorite 

orange-ish gingko leaf batik.

And here you can see a glimpse of the green fabric that I used to make "potholders" for Christmas gifts last year!

The beautiful green floral in the center is a lovely fabric, a smooth and silky cotton, reminiscent of a Liberty of London fabric.

Below is another pretty pink HarmonyArt fabric, alongside some Winnie The Pooh fabric that I used to make a quilt for GranddaughterStitches quite a few years ago. 

The purple grape fabric is from some table napkins that I made a long time ago, and the green pea fabric is from a baby quilt that I made for BabyStitches just three years ago.

Looking through your fabrics can be a walk down Memory Lane!

Liberty of London EPP

I came across this little package of Liberty of London pre-cut hexagons that I bought in London on a past trip there.  The package contained 50 fabric hexagons and 50 EPP papers. 

So, while watching a quilting show on my computer I started basting the fabric to the papers.

These fabrics are such a joy to work with!  They are soft as "buttah!"

Aren't they beautiful/gorgeous!?!

Not sure what I'll do with them, but I'll keep you posted!

How to Rip/Make a Scarf

Directions for Making a Scarf

1.  First, acquire at least 2 yards of fabric.  Up to 2 1/2 yards.  Maybe 3 yards if you are very tall.  I've never used that much fabric.  This will make two scarves.

Caveat one:  The type of fabric bought really makes a difference.  Usually regular quilting weight cotton won't work real well because it doesn't drape very nicely.  Finer, softer cottons work much better.  Those are the fabrics that feel ultra-soft/smooth when you caress them.  (We all caress fabric, don't we?  I hope I'm not the only one?)  It's because they have a higher thread count than quilting cotton.  Some fabrics from Italy, and as you'll see, London are made like this.  The downside is that they usually cost more than regular quilting cotton.  But the good thing about this method is that two scarves are made in the process.  One for you and one for a friend.  Also, it is really a plus if there is very little color difference between the front and back sides.  Because both sides will be showing in this scarf.

Caveat two:  Caveat one is not a hard and fast rule.  I have made a few scarves, as you will see below, that were made from slightly heavier-weight fabric.  Sometimes one gets lucky!!

Now, continuing with the "sewing" instructions:

2.  Make a small snip with a scissors and rip off each of the selvedges.

3.  Make one more rip down the exact center, in the same direction (lengthwise), which will rip the fabric in half.

4.  Now there are two scarves.  To add the finishing touch, wash and dry on normal settings.  Do NOT iron.  Any slight wrinkles will just look natural, like they belong.  Usually the long edges will curl a little bit around on themselves and the short ends will fray slightly.  Remove any long threads remaining.

This scarf is a very lightweight, soft cotton.  You can see below how nicely the ends have frayed.

And here you see how the lengthwise edge has created folds on itself.

This scarf is an exception.  It is a solid, quilting-weight cotton.  But I wanted to try it because it was such a great fabric!  Those little squares are sewn onto the black fabric, not merely printed on.

The edges folded over nicely. . .

and the ends frayed well, too.

This is a Liberty cotton lawn fabric.  Its basic gray/white color scheme really appealed to me.

And it drapes very nicely.

This is the first scarf that I ripped!  I remember buying it, though it was quite a few years ago.  I was in Britex Fabrics, and I really wanted some orange fabric so I could make a scarf to wear to Giants games.  (San Francisco Giants colors are orange and black.)  I was incredibly lucky to find this in the remnant section.  

This fabric is kind of gauzy, and was rippled when I first bought it.  It rippled even more after I washed it.

This lovely blue print is an Italian cotton, I believe.  It has a higher thread count than regular quilting cotton.

I was lucky that there is very little color difference between the front and back sides.  The front side of the fabric is shown on the left side of the photo below, and the back side is showing on the right side.

This is another fabric where I was lucky!  I think it might be called a shot cotton.  Not sure, but it's a fabric with the design woven in, rather than printed, so the colors are usually the same on both sides. And this is a regular quilting weight fabric, but it worked well.

The edges folded over--kind of wonky, but it's ok!!  There are always a few threads needing to be pulled/gotten rid of after it is washed.

And the ends look great, too!

Here is another gauzy fabric--I really like them for scarves!

I'm afraid the colors are a little washed out in my photos, but there are nice, soft pinks in this scarf.

This final scarf is a shear fabric, purchased again at Britex Fabric.  I'm not sure of the fabric content, but it sure has made a nice scarf.

It is very wide; my "half-scarf" is over a yard wide!

The ends (above) frayed nicely, and the long edges (below) frayed well also.

New Fabric!

I recently came across two finds at Britex Fabrics in the sale section.  I always like to look there, because I can find treasures sometimes!  One time I found a piece of Liberty of London fabric.  Score!

 This time I found the two fabrics in the top picture.  Both are really nice, smooth cottons.  

The striped one--what fun colors are they?!--is an Italian cotton, and feels almost like a shirting weight.  It is 60" wide and there is a little over a yard of it.  I think I will have some fun using these nice stripes in a quilt top.  I'm imagining the stripes with nice coordinating colors.

This very large polka dot is a more sheer fabric.  It is 54" wide and about a yard long.

Doesn't it drape nicely?  I'm thinking maybe a scarf.

Liberty of London

"On my summer vacation I went to.....

LIBERTY OF LONDON."

Yes, that is how my back-to-school essay will begin this year. Well, I didn't go to London just to see the Liberty store, but you know that it was an important historical site for me to visit. You know how that goes, don't you?!?

Liberty of London is such a great place to be. First of all, the building is incredible. It's an old, half-timbered building--very large. Inside are beautiful carved moldings and woodwork. And a magnificent old staircase. (They have elevators, too!)

Liberty of London sells a lot of clothing, both their own label and other designers, as well as their fabric. Also stuff like scarves, tapestries, accessories, etc.

But you know that I like the fabric area best! I could spend hours there fondling the fabric. If you're not familiar with Liberty fabrics, they are incredibly beautiful, finely woven and smooth fabrics.

I had to limit myself to not buying the whole store! So I settled on two prints. The colorful one above is a "typical" Liberty print. (I've gotten so I recognize them when I see them around.) Not quite sure what I'll do with this, although I think it would make a very nice long-ish skirt.

And this one is more monochromatic, shades of grays and a little beige that doesn't show up very well in the photo. I really like it, and am thinking it might make a good scarf.

Then I bought this small bundle of a variety of prints. There were 15 pieces of fabric, all a uniform width and ranging from about 9" in length to 15" or so. These will definitely find a place in a quilt, or quilted item.

(BTW, the strips of binding tied around the bundle say "Fabrics Worn and Washed," but they are new fabrics. They were just put together by the company called "Fabrics Worn and Washed.")

This shows them all spread out. Aren't they pretty!!!?! The purple fabric, the fifth from the bottom, was very familiar to me, as I have a blouse out of that fabric. I bought the blouse several years ago on another trip to London.

Now I have the fun job of finding places to use all these pretty fabrics.