Spellbound--It Needed More Quilting

When deciding on quilt designs for our quilts, several factors are considered:

Use--is it a show quilt or a utility quilt?
Batting--what is the minimum space un-quilted recommended by the manufacturer?
Deadline--how soon does it have to be done?
Quilt "Worthiness"--how much time does this quilt, for it's intended use and/or recipient, deserve?

I know I almost always err on the side of too little quilting. Usually a deadline is pending and this shop sample just has to be done. Sometimes, I'm over this particular quilt and it just needs enough quilting to get by.

Rarely, have I added more quilting and wished I hadn't but from time to time I have wished I had added more after the quilt was complete--that can be done but rarely is. Done is done.

Spellbound is a great pattern from Calico Carriage Quilt Designs I first discovered at Spring Market in St. Louis in 2017. I took lots of photos of the quilt hanging in their booth, bought the pattern and secured the fabrics--two jelly rolls of a Shibori design by Debby Maddy for MODA. Here it is at Market:

When I got the top done, I decided I would first stitch in the ditch along all the seams, using white thread top and bottom, as the back is a very light white/floral fabric. Here it is "resting" after all the stitch in the ditch was done:

Next I used navy blue thread top and white bottom for the decorative stitching in the blue bands. This took a bit of tension tweaking, each time I changed bobbins, or started each day. Machine tension in quilting is so important and can be frustrating to achieve. The Bernina Q20 Sit Down Long Arm rarely has tension issues. No problem with Bottom Line in the bobbin and MicroQuilter 80 weight polyester in the top, both by Superior Threads. All I had to do was quilt.

 I always make a "practice piece" as soon as the top is done and when it is "sandwiched"--using the exact same backing, batting and leftover fabric pieces from the top. Since it can take me years to actually quilt a top, doing this at the same time the quilt is basted is a timesaver--no more searching through fabric bins to find that backing fabric leftover, or pieces from the top, and what was this batting? Now the practice piece is made and stored with the basted quilt, waiting for me. It doesn't have to be pretty, just functional. Here is the piece from Spellbound:

When all the blue bands were quilted, I declared it done and added the binding and sleeve to the trimmed quilt. I also make the binding as soon as the top is basted, deciding what fabric I want for the binding and getting it done. The sleeve is made from the back fabric and I either make the back 9" extra long for the sleeve or go ahead and make the sleeve while preparing the back.

Here it is just after I put the last blue quilting stitches in place:

During the hours spent hand-sewing the navy blue binding to the back side of the quilt, I kept thinking I might need to quilt the white bands too. I looked at the photo of the original quilt, in the Calico Carriage booth, and could clearly see the white quilting really added a lot.

BUT the sleeve was already sewn into the binding, that's how I always do it. If I was going to quilt the white bands I had to do that BEFORE I stitched the sleeve in place along the top edge of the quilt and before I attached the printed label I made to the back. Did I want  to double the quilting? No. Did the quilt NEED me to double the quilting? Yes.

For the white thread, I switched to Glide--it has a bit of shine and is certainly thicker than the 80 weight MicroQuilter. It behaved beautifully.

I started on the outside edge, at the top where the sleeve is, pulling the sleeve out of the way and coming up with a design that would fill the space but not catch the binding or any of that sleeve. To make matters just a bit more challenging: the vertical white bands are 1.25" finished and the horizontal white bands are 1.5" finished. Both blue bands are also different sizes but that stitching hardly shows and because they are wider, it was easier to come up with designs to fill the spaces.

The top design I did with a ruler and I loved how it looked:

That helped me decide I would use the same design all around the four sides of the quilt, selecting a different design for each round of white. I alternated between ruler work designs and free motion motif designs, looking at designs I like and have saved--mainly in the many books I have or on Pinterest.

It only took a few hours to quilt all the white bands and I was so glad I put in that time. Here is the quilt just after the last white stitching was completed. Much better:

All that was left was to hand-stitch the sleeve down and sew the label on:

Sleeve ready for hand-stitching

Label ready for hand-stitching

As you can see, sometimes I make the label prematurely, or with wishful thinking. All it took was a permanent Ultra Fine Sharpie to add 2018 to the expected date of 2017 and now it's accurate.

I have written in detail about bindings a few times--find specific details here in this Tutorial and here where I explain adding a sleeve and the quilting process.

And now here is the finished quilt, ready to show off at the next guild meeting and then get installed at Huntsville Sew & Vac where it will be a one-day class October 5, 10-4. The pattern seems pretty easy, I  thought I would zip right through it but it took me over a week to complete the top. There are important tricks to staying organized with this one--students will learn those tricks.

My Spellbound 64" x 83"

It is not easy to get good photos of the quilting--this is the best I could do. I am SO glad I quilted the white bands--it really shows there:

Let's Quilt.

Barbara