cross stitch - quilt or quilt cover?

For years I have done cross stitch. As framing is expensive, and I had so many small projects completed that were just sitting doing nothing (I'm a bit of a fidgeter and like to have my hands busy so would often just do cross stitch with no particular purpose in mind) but eventually I found a way to include them in some patch work cushions (I will insert a link to see them if I ever figure out how it works!) that were then gifted to family one Christmas. It also helped to have some of my work on display when you live in rental properties that don't allow pictures to be hung.

One of the projects I have planned for Sam was an alphabet sampler... but then there's the problem of not being able to hang it. So the new plan is to do each letter on an individual piece of fabric and then turn it into a quilt. However, my sister is the quilter in the family and thinks that quilting something that big would be beyond her skills (and therefore mine as well as being beyond the capabilities of my little old sewing machine) and suggested I just piece it together, don't worry about the quilting, but turn it into a quilt cover.

First - for those more experienced in quilting and patchwork than myself, do you think a project as big as a quilt for a standard single bed is feasible and would you suggest the quilt or the quilt cover?

Second - can someone measure the dimensions of a standard single bed quilt for me so I can get some idea of sizes and can therefore work on layouts and fabric.

It may seem backwards, but for things like this it is always easier to get the fabric first and then alter the colours of the embroidery threads to suit rather than doing the embroidery and then trying to find fabric to suit that.

I hope all of this makes sense!

BW

Link to album containing pictures of cushions is here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...7&id=593752156

Hopefully that is set so that everyone can see it without being my friend. Can't figure out the fancy links right now.

BW

It sure is doable. The first quilt I pieces was a sampler and was QS bed size.

You don't necessarily have to machine quilt it either, a quilting hoop and sewing needle and you could hand quilt it.

*off to attempt to look at pics on iPhone*

Your creations are just gorgeous BW

Anything is possible!!! I have an annoying habbit (=P) of having big grand creative project plans like that and pull them off, although a quilt is not one ive attempted yet. But my mum makes amazing quilts, (she made us a wedding quilt most recently)

it sounds pretty simple. just do all the bits (all the letters), and then just sew it all together. easy, seen as thats what youve been doing twith the cusions.
I would suggest doing that, sew it all together, so you have i big panal, and then you can back it (so a plain piece covering the whole back) then you can decide if lining it like taht is best, or turning it into a cover would be better. see what works.

I LOVE your earth air fire and water wall ones!!!! =O amazing =) your work is great. mind if i fb friend you?

I might hassle you in regards to my current project being my wedding crossstitch (once again a big grand idea that i'm at the stage of ...oh my god..)

I'm not sure on the size though, I dont have a single size quilt here....only a king and double and lap (ones my mum has made)

Im really keen on seeing it come together!

No worries. :) Teirae, I will go deal with your friend request as soon as Sam goes down (he's already asleep) and feel free to pick my brains any time. The first thing I'll suggest - even if it's a large project, try to break it down into smaller elements and complete one at a time. Makes things much easier and progress a little more obvious. :)

The chinese symbols were done for my mother. She saw them in one of the magazines I buy and wanted them and begged me to do them. I did, she framed them, now they hang in their lounge room. There's more of my work in other people's homes than my own! I have so much more that's not been photographed! The last project I finished was an afghan rug for Sam... Must get a picture of it soon - just need some new batteries in my camera and then the picture will go up. The cushion you like so much, Pandora is one that was done for my ungrateful sister in law. As soon as she got it (the colours were matched to the fabric used to cover her lounge) she handed me another fabric sample and demanded I make something to hang on the wall to suit. Needless to say, that's never been done and likely never will be!

I'm really not sure about the wisdom of hand-quilting something of that size with my arthritis issues - One of the reasons working on smaller things and then piecing them together is so good for me is because it means I'm not trying to hold a large, heavy piece of work.

Am I correct in thinking that machine quilting requires a special foot or something for the sewing machine?

BW

can your sister help you to back the squares with wadding and a contrast material, and then just sew them together later? a friend was making me a quilt two squares at a time when i was a teenager - she put some lining stuff and then backing material on each square/triangle, and then was going to just sew them together

single bed doona is apparently 140 x 210cm (love google!)

Yes you will need a special foot, not sure if it's called a quilting foot or a walking foot. They can be exxy depending on the machine, mine was over $100.

Quilting is not my forte, but they look really good done like that. I have two flower ones - an iris and a cyclamen and they would look good done as a pillow too I reckon.

Not sure where you are BW, but my machine is new (year old) and I got a free quilting foot with it, I havent used it yet, I might in the future but if you wanted to borrow it or anything let me know (depends how far away you are too)

my mum just bought a brand new (and very very expensive) sewing maching, but it does EVERYTHING. Even the dishes apparently. Shes only had it a month or something, so still working it all out, but if worse comes to worse im sure i can con her into quilting it all up for you, or atleast she would be able to give you tips/help on the easiest way to do it. If you look in my fb photos under 'wedding quilt' she made that all by hand (before she got her fancy machine)

ps that afgan is awesome too!!!! looks so cosy =)

That quilt is amazing! I don't think I'd need anything as complicated as that. I'm planning on just joining simple squares together for the patchwork side of things. I don't know a lot about quilting, but I imagine it would all be straight lines? I'm in Windsor, so a bit too far from Wagga to drop over and borrow your machine. My sister thinks that a couple of our aunts may be able to do the quilting for me, so I guess I do have options (I just don't want to pick up the phone and call them!).

I guess it's a matter of playing with measurements and figuring out a layout that would work. I figure I don't need to make a firm decision on whether it becomes a quilt or a quilt cover until much further down the track - I'm looking at around 28 (because 26 doesn't have nice factors!) individual pieces of cross stitch before things get pieced together... it's a project of years, I suspect.

As for the afghan - I started it while pregnant with Sam and had hoped to get it finished before he was born. Work and premature birth ensured that didn't happen... by the time it was finished he was far too big to wrap up in it, so it mostly floats around in his room and would occasionally get used as an extra cover for him on cold nights.

BW

I've found so much energy and the ability to push through pain and fatigue in tossing around ideas for this quilt!

So it may seem crazy that this arthritic old crone is launching into a project of this size, but apparently I need it for my sanity and mental health... to feel productive again now that I'm officially too ill to work is just... a breath of fresh air into my stuffy old life right now!

Anyway, I've been messing about with the dimensions of a single bed and the size of a standard single bed quilt and I've come up with a couple of different layouts that I'm messing about with.

Option 1: 3 squares across and 9 down. This gives me 27 squares of stitching, so the one bang in the middle of the bed (right between M and N) would be something related to the overall theme, but not actually a letter. Going with a 15cm x 15cm square for the stitching and keeping the designs centred on the bed, rather than bits hanging down the sides, I'd end up with 20cm between each design going across and only 5cm between them going down.

Option 2: 4 squares across and 7 down. This gives 28 squares of stitching, so there will be one at the beginning and one at the end that are related, but not a letter. If I stick with the 15cm x 15cm square and centreing the designs on top of the bed, I can actually work with 10cm between each piece of embroidery going down and across. There's a slightly larger border at each side than there is at each end. Or I can go with 25 on each side and the bottom and only 20cm at the top (I figure this might be better so there's a bit of quilt to tuck into the end without obscuring any of the stitching).

So I'm thinking option 2 it is. It works, it's balanced, and looks fairly even.

When it comes to themes... I don't actually have access to all my design books and magazines. But one that I do have access to is ABCs for kids. There's a lovely Noah's Ark alphabet sampler in there - each letter has an animal starting with that letter somehow perched on the letter (X and U have footprints - kind of glad there's no unicorn!) and there's a central picture of Noah on the ark with a few animals. Would it look terribly odd if I repeated that little picture of Noah on his ark for both the spare square at the beginning and the end? Or should I search for a different alphabet design that possibly has two extra pictures I could use so there's a different picture/design at beginning and end?

I have to admit to being quite drawn to Noah's Ark. Sam has a love for animals and it's bright and while I can't imagine him still wanting it on his bed as a teenager, I think it will have a fairly broad age-appeal.

Thoughts? Comments? Other ideas?

BW

Option 2 stood out for me, cause (from what you described) it sounds like the gap between the letters is more even both vertical and horizontal? rather than the other one where there is such a drastic gap difference between the 2. so id be heading towards option 2.

Noahs Arc sounds beautiful! esp. the different animal for each letter. I know my mum (i never shut up about her =P ) has an alphabet sampler thing that has stuff that starts with the letter, but they arent all animals...i know the A is the Aust flag, (cause she did my name for me when i was born). im trying to remember the other ones from what i remember her doing..E is an ecidna...N is a numbat? hmm.. sounds like its an Australia theme one, that makes sense. =) if your interested let me know and ill find pictures for you to check out.

hmm so 2 squares...can you have one of them being Noahs Arc, and the other something completely different like some text saying, made with love by mum or something? (he might not put that on his bed as teenager though if that was there...)...or...his name? or...umm...im out...i will keep thinking about it though!!!

I suspect I may even have the same book that the Australian alphabet came out of. It's one of the ones that I can't get to, but it sounds very familiar. I used a different alphabet (the one with the birds) for the cushions I made for my parents.

I have so many books it's not funny!

If I hadn't already stitched a birth sampler for Sam (unframed, but I ran across it earlier and may just take a picture and add it to the collection some time soon) I'd be tempted to throw in something like that on the square. I know if I was talking about this with my MIL, she'd suggest I design my own thing - I don't have that skill!

I may just have to hassle my DH to get my bookshelf finished so I can get at my other books... or just move a few boxes around so I can get at some of them to have a sticky beak at the other designs I have.

But yeah, I'm also thinking option 2 - I think having it all spread out sideways, but squished up and down would look odd. I was leaning towards option 1 before I started working with measurements, but now that I've done some number crunching, it really does have to be option 2.

BW

Just a thought Ness - go for the decision now for a quilt instead of quilt cover, then you can make it non-standard size. I say this cause I always like more overhang on a bedcover, and it would give you more room around the edges maybe?

Your work is amazing - I managed to stuff up my first cross-stitch when I was ironing the canvas! Before starting work on it!

I guess I'm a bit reluctant to lock myself into something that MUST be a quilt. If I get half way through and then decide that it's too hard, I can still have it become a quilt cover fairly easy. But if I get half way through and decide that a quilt is too hard and I can't get someone to help with the quilting side of things and it's a non-standard size, I'm pretty much stuck and will never finish it.

Does anyone have thoughts on repeating the one picture panel at the beginning and end of the alphabet? Or would it really be best if I find a design that will work with two different pictures?

BW

would a quilt equate to a double bed size?
i always go up a size in bed covers (so have king on queen, queen on double) so maybe if you aim for a quilt but make it into a doona cover later...?

Now a double bed sized project just seems way too daunting! Perhaps later, when this one is done, which will likely end up a queen-sized one for our own bed.

In the album linked before I have added a picture of the alphabet sampler I'm planning to use, just so people can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Still trying to figure out how I can throw in a diagram (to scale, of course!) of my proposed layout.

BW

how about if you had the same picture but they were mirror. how hard would that be wih the pattern etc?

hi!

sorry if this is stealing your thread!

I just have a quick question, do you know any tricks to stopping your Aida (is that what its called?) from fraying?

The edges of mine are slowly going and i want to stop them before it gets too bad to stop.

TIA

and sorry for stealing your post!

how is the quilt coming?

Overlock or put a zigzag stitch around the edges. Best way I know of to stop it.

I ordered the fabric to do the cross stitch today. It should arrive in a few days. The online store I get most of my cross stitch supplies from was having a very short 25% off sale so I jumped on it. They are much cheaper than everywhere else, even before the sale.

I'll be working on 28 count jobelan evenweave - it's just a bit softer than aida... and the pattern has tonnes of fractional stitches so will work better on an evenweave fabric rather than aida cloth.

BW

Thanks!!

what store do you use, i was searching for one the other night.

I cant wait to see your progress, have you decided what 2 pictures your going to do?

Vicstitch. If you can't find it via google let me know and I will PM you the direct link. At this point I'm still going with the Noah's ark theme and repeating the central motif. I just can't find anything else that I like anywhere near as much!

BW

My fabric arrived yesterday!

The thought of cutting out and edging 28 little squares of jobelan cloth is rather daunting. I think I'll need to visit mum for some help.

BW

yay!! time to get into it. Just do it one at a time, and rememebr there is not dead line, just do it when you can.

I just posted photos of my current xstitch on fb. Im going away for work for 6 weeks, and wont have internet while im away (except on my phone), so plenty of time finish it =)

good luck1! and happy stitiching BW!!!!!!

Fabric... check!

Threads... check!

Still can't get started, though! Mum's loaning me her overlocker (and dressmaking scissors as I can't find mine!) and she can't bring it until next week!

*sigh*

How are you going with your project, Teirae? I finally got around to checking out the pictures on facebook - it looks amazing and will be well worth it when you are finished. But it's the kind of thing I just don't cope with at all these days. All the colours and thread changes and half cross stitches... blerk! Good luck with it!

BW

yea the thread changes is killing me...i havent worked out an easy way to do that yet...playing with differnt methods but everyone seems to make the whole thing tedious...

Can you keep multiple needles threaded with the different colours? Doesn't help with the stop/start business, but it does at least eliminate needing to unthread and rethread the needle each time. I remember doing that with one project I was doing - I would sit sidewards on the lounge and used the back of the lounge as my pincushion - with a whole line of needles beside me. Probably only useful if you can set up in one spot and not need to pack up completely at the end of each session.

BW

hi! how is it going?? have you done much?

Ive done a bit more of mine, but not for a few weeks, but now im back home for good (went away for work for 6 weeks) i can start again, and have a permenant set up. I have got more needles so do have them a ll threaded with different threads, does work a little better.

would love to see what you have done of yours, if you have had a chacnce =)

Ermm...

I have all my fabric squares cut out and I have overlocked the edges. I got all my threads sorted and into my working box (I have three boxes of DMC threads, so I transfer the ones I'm using for a particular project into a smaller one). And then the day after I did that I sprained my wrist. It was my left hand, too. I've managed to cross stitch with my right hand all bandaged up because that one just deals with the needle. Even though I'm only working on small pieces of fabric and have a small hoop for them, I'm giving it a few more days before I get started on the stitching just so I don't delay recovery too long. I'm managing so far this morning without a bandage and without too much pain, but I'll have to strap it up to go out (I drive a manual car!) but if that goes ok, then I will try to get started on the stitching tonight.

Bit of an annoying set back, really! But I'm planning on taking a photo of each letter as it's completed and posting them online. Having other people see and comment will encourage me to keep going. :)

Good to hear yours is progressing well. I've done projects like that before, but really don't have the patience and attention span to do so now. Damn CFS!

BW

CFS would be a really pain in the arse!!! good luck with getting it started =)

I am enjoying mine...and i know it would look awesome when im done. I have a program to make patterns now too which makes it a lot easier than what i was doing before. so once i get over this hump of the moon, doing the next bit will be easier.

A little ashamed to notice the date this thread was started... but I finally finished the first letter (A) on Tuesday night.

I finally realised that the women's craft group at church was on one of Sam's day care days and so I decided to go. I was the only woman under 60 in the entire room, but they are beautiful, wise, loving women and I know that I'll need their help with phase 2 (the actually putting it all together part of things!).

So now I'm working on F, and it's breaking my brain to not be doing B after A, but parts of the pattern are spread over a couple of pages and I want to scan them and put them together and print them on a single page just to keep my sanity intact.

So after nearly a year, I'm cross-stitching again!

Tei, make sure you hassle me on facebook for a photo - I do still want to stick to the plan of posting each letter as an incentive to keep going.

BW

lmao, I was just about to go WHERE IS THE PHOTOS!!! =P

*off to fb*

Not up yet. Tomorrow when the Munchkin is at day care and won't grab it and run around the house screaming "aaaaaay!"

If he sees me doing cross stitch he runs up and says "aaay!" Cute, but I can see that we've got a lot of work ahead of us in terms of teaching him the alphabet!

I need to report on my progress - all letters finished! Finished them before Christmas, in fact - with countless projects between then and now (some towels for my sister, two christmas tree designs, a fairy tale castle, an apple design and a tardis). don't have all photos up. My computer sort of kinda blew up and I haven't got around to putting camera or phone software on the netbook I use now. I need a LOT of encouragement to get on to the next stage!

Have you worked out how your putting it together?

Sent via my vortex manipulator!

Not really. There's a rough plan, but that's about it. Unsure of what colour to use. I'm leaning towards a dark grey/black kind of subtle textured pattern, but my mother is pushing brights... I just think it will be too hard to get colours to suit everything so am leaning towards dark neutrals. Should really make the pictures pop, too.

I agree you want the letters to pop and stand out. Maybe lighter shades could work

Sent via my vortex manipulator!

I need a day where I can take the cross stitched pieces and a camera to a fabric store and just take pictures of them up against different colours to really get a sense of what works.