Baby Boy Batik Zigzag Quilt
As always there seems to be soooo much to do and not enough
time to get it all done! I actually finished this lovely baby boy batik zigzag
quilt well over a month ago, but with so much going on with uni and the rest of
my crazy life I haven't had a chance to add it to my blog until now. I've been
feeling guilty about not being more consistent with this blog. Even though I
still try to sew every spare moment that I have (and spend the rest of my time wishing
that I had more time to sew!).
As you already know this was originally intended to be a Chevron quilt, but in my haste to get the first quilt done I misread the online instructions. Since this is the matching boy quilt to the girl quilt I did earlier...I've decided to make it the same way.
The fabrics used in this quilt top were an off white homespun (I really should have been a bit clever here and purchased enough of the one batch of white homespun when I started to make the first zigzag quilt, so as to save myself some time and money...oh well, live and learn!).
The batik fabrics I purchased from Sewers Delight in Browns Plains, as they have a new app called Collect where I can collect points and not have another bulky plastic card in my purse. So due to my bargain hunting instincts and the fact that they are close to me, I thought that I'd check out their range of batiks and there was enough of a selection to keep me going for this quilt without having to track down more colours and designs. The backing is a navy homespun. There are some fabrics from this quilt that I have used in the baby girl batik quilt which was intentional.
I prewash all of my fabrics individually or in groups of very
similar colours, I strongly suggest that everyone do the same. This stops you
spending so much time on a project that may end up having a colour run later or
shrinking and/or stretching a little and
pulling at stitches making your finished
work uneven.
I cut my fabric into 2.5 inch strips and sewed them together. I then cut them into 4.5 inch blocks. I laid out the blocks in a line on the kitchen table and decided which order to place the colours. Once I had a colour scheme I was happy with I sewed together my first row. I then laid out the other rows in the order that I wished to sew them. Once the rows were sewed up, it was just a matter of pressing the rows lightly with an iron and lining up the colours in the order required. At this stage the quilt top seems to come together very quickly.
I almost didn't put a boarder on this quilt. But then I
would have had to trim it up a bit shorter on the sides than what I think
'looks right', so I used the batiks that I had left over to make a boarder.
As usual I used the 505 spray to baste the quilt. I left
this to set for a few days (this is just something that I do, as I find that
otherwise the machine needle gets gummed up).
This quilt has cotton batting, which I have purchased pre-cut
and bagged for convenience. The binding is the same fabric as the purple batik
that I used for the baby girl batik zigzag quilt.
When I machine quilted this quilt I used variegated thread and
used a free motion sewing foot in my own random stippling style.
It seems that every time I finish one baby quilt I hear that
another little bundle of joy is on its way. Baby quilts are so satisfying and fun
to make, I'm sure I'll have more baby quilts to show you soon.
