Finally finished this 'simple' project. It was one of those projects that kept changing and growing as I worked on it. The main sheep panel is a Lewe the Ewe design by Susybee.
Originally, I had planned to use the matching back panel of just black sheep faces on a white/gray background, but couldn't find it anywhere. Instead, I went with cow spots, figuring it was at least still part of the farmyard theme. Plus, the goal was high-contrast for a 2 month old infant (at least to start), so cow spots fit the bill.
I used high-loft polyester batting and really only wanted enough simple quilting to hold the piece together. I would not go with high-loft for a project like this again. Even though I used spray adhesive on it, I had a lot of trouble with pieces shifting. If I did this again, I would go with a low-loft, cotton batting.
I knew I wanted a striped border, but it did not occur to me until I was getting ready to cut that I could not cut bias strips from striped fabric and still get the effect I wanted, so had to cut straight strips instead. I'm not thrilled with my corners at all, but they will have to do.
Just before I put the binding on, I decided it would be cool to add some tabs for holding toys on the cow side of the mat. so back to the fabric store for some black and white spotted fabric. I cut 10 strips 3 x 15 inches and then used very light fusible interfacing to give them some structure (probably not necessary) and added snaps so toys could be changed out or removed for washing. I invested in a Kam Snap table setter and have so much fun with that thing. It makes snap, grommet nad rivet setting so easy. It's a lot of money, but with a grandbaby I'm assuming lots of snaps are in my future (mostly got it to make cloth diaper covers with 20 snaps each), so I bit the bullet. Now I can't find enough things to add snaps to.
Originally, I had planned to use the matching back panel of just black sheep faces on a white/gray background, but couldn't find it anywhere. Instead, I went with cow spots, figuring it was at least still part of the farmyard theme. Plus, the goal was high-contrast for a 2 month old infant (at least to start), so cow spots fit the bill.
I used high-loft polyester batting and really only wanted enough simple quilting to hold the piece together. I would not go with high-loft for a project like this again. Even though I used spray adhesive on it, I had a lot of trouble with pieces shifting. If I did this again, I would go with a low-loft, cotton batting.
I knew I wanted a striped border, but it did not occur to me until I was getting ready to cut that I could not cut bias strips from striped fabric and still get the effect I wanted, so had to cut straight strips instead. I'm not thrilled with my corners at all, but they will have to do.
Just before I put the binding on, I decided it would be cool to add some tabs for holding toys on the cow side of the mat. so back to the fabric store for some black and white spotted fabric. I cut 10 strips 3 x 15 inches and then used very light fusible interfacing to give them some structure (probably not necessary) and added snaps so toys could be changed out or removed for washing. I invested in a Kam Snap table setter and have so much fun with that thing. It makes snap, grommet nad rivet setting so easy. It's a lot of money, but with a grandbaby I'm assuming lots of snaps are in my future (mostly got it to make cloth diaper covers with 20 snaps each), so I bit the bullet. Now I can't find enough things to add snaps to.
Comments
Post a Comment