Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Embroidered Quilt

I've finally finished this one!  This is the project for a Craftsy class by Eileen Roche that I started at the beginning of the year.  Not only is it a quilt finish but it is the first Craftsy class that I've finished. Being new to machine embroidery it was a challenge at first to understand the technique, but I think I'm falling in love with the idea of embroidering on a quilt.
Due to the limits of a home embroidery machine the quilt is made in strips of about 9 inches.  A continuous technique is used so that you can create an embroidery that runs the entire width of the fabric by continual rehooping.  This project also used a raw edge applique technique along with the embroidery.
You had the option of embroidering on a full quilt sandwich of three layers.  This would have resulted in the bobbin side of the embroidery being visible on the back.  I chose to use a "quilt cracker" which is just the top fabric and the batting.  I pieced the strips together and then attached the back with lines of stitching on the sashing. 

As with any quilt I've ever made, there are things I like and don't like about the end result.  The back is a bit looser than I would like.  I think the raw edge applique is a bit out of sync with the elegance of the embroidery.  That might be due to my inexperience in the technique and the applique trimming.  I might have liked a more visible thread color on the grey parts...perhaps just a lighter or darker shade of grey.  I also think these embroidery patterns would look good without the applique in a contrasting thread color.  But all in all, I really like the end result.

If you have an embroidery module to your sewing machine I would recommend this course.  It made me a lot more comfortable with the workings of my machine and opened up so many creative possibilities.  Eileen Roche also has a lot of other embroidered quilt patterns on her blog and once I work through my current "to do" list (that would be 2014 or later) I may try another one.



 

7 comments:

  1. What a great job you've done on this quilt. It really makes me wish that I'd persevered with it before I got rid of my embroidery machine.

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  2. The overall result is really great Nina, and interesting to read your thoughts about the methods. Very pretty.

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  3. NINA! The quilt looks absolutely exquisite! Congrats! I LOVE that backing fabric too!

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  4. It's stunning, Nina and thank you for the embroidery tips :)

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  5. Mmmmm Love it!!! The curvy effect is quite amazing!!

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  6. What a nice quilt. I'd never thought about machine embroidery on a quilt. (Of course, I don't have a machine to do it, which may be why I didn't think about it. Ha.)

    So you said you layered the top and batting to embroider it. How did you prevent the batting from getting stuck in the feed dogs on the bottom? It's hard for me to imagine my sewing machine stitching those two layers. But then maybe an embroidery machine works differently than a sewing machine?

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