August 26, 2010

Wedding quilt process post #3


Last time I brought it up, I was leaning towards this design for the wedding quilt.

And I did decide to go with it. The big question in my mind was “how do I make giant curves?” I came up with an answer pretty quickly. The comforter on our bed is the size I want the quilt to be, so it was the perfect place to start. I used making tape to make a rough sketch on the comforter of the two circles.


Then I let it sit for a month. I needed time with no little person who would be tempted to “help” by peeling off the tape or otherwise being underfoot. Last weekend I had my chance. In a flash the comforter was on the living room floor.


I tied one end of a string around a chair leg


And the other end around a pen


I taped a piece of freezer paper (the only large paper I had) to the comforter.


And used the string/pen as a large compass to draft an arc. It took some maneuvering to get the chair leg in the right place (the center of the circle) and when the pen (finally!) seemed to align with the whole taped arc, I made my marks. Sometimes many marks were made, and then I had to note which ones were the correct ones.

I then changed the length of the string while keeping the chair leg where it was, and drew a second arc. I then had an arc shape the width that I wanted the ring to be. I repeated the process with the second circle and ended up with two slightly different arc shapes.


If I have done my job correctly (and this is by no means certain) I have created pattern pieces that can be reproduced and pieced together to create the two different rings. I’ll need 4-5 copies of each arc to complete the circles on the quilt. I’ll cut those out of a lightweight fabric and use that as a foundation to string piece upon. Then I plan to appliqué the rings to a plain backing. I haven’t decided how to quilt it yet – a few good ideas but no clear victor. I hope this turns out well. I think I am past the hard part and that once I get moving on piecing the circles it will come together quickly.

13 comments:

Anne-Lise at Rag, Tag, Bobtail said...

What it is to have brains! Fabulous idea! Look forward to the next step.

Theodora quilts said...

What a clever idea to make your own huge compass ,things just come to use when we really what to make something., good job.

Mama Pea said...

Very creative problem solving! An interesting modification of the double wedding ring design. I am excited to see what you end up doing with it!

Sarah Vanderburgh said...

Very ingenious. Great idea to use the chair to make the compass. I think this quilt will be very special. Thanks for sharing.

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

Very clever! I would still be trying to draw the thing freehand and would have a mess.

Jessica said...

genius! good luck with the next step of the project~
(and i totally understand not being able to tackle big creative things with a little one underfoot!)

Jess @ Scrappy n Happy said...

Sounds fantastic, can't wait to see more!

Elsa said...

brilliant! looking forward to seeing the finished quilt!

Allie said...

You are SO CLEVER - and I think you just helped me solve a problem, lol! Thank you!

Megan said...

Nice! I love the idea of blowing up a part of a quilt/block pattern to huge proportions and using it for the whole quilt. I'll probably borrow/steal this idea at some point! ;)

Vesuviusmama said...

I do love witnessing your process and seeing how others solve problems!

Cal said...

I like your ingenuity! And I like the pattern too, very appropriate as a wedding quilt.

Jill said...

Very cool quilt idea, love it! Wow, I forgot what it was like to not have autocad - you actually have to think. Nice work on that, I'm not sure I could still do it. Can't wait to see this one!

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