Strip Tease - Quilt Top Re-work

I have a thing for buying up old quilt tops that are a bit....well...kinda on the ugly side.
Because in amongst the overall ugly there is a whole lot of good stuff just waiting to be cracked out and used.
It's a bit like those scenes in corny movies where the girl receptionist with the hair bun and thick glasses does her little undoing and flick of the long flowing hair and takes her glasses off to reveal shes a Vogue worthy model.
Thats what an ugly quilt top is for me. Its a beauty just waiting to be discovered.

So with that movie scene in mind and with these two finds, i'm calling this quilt top re-work the 'strip tease'.
I found these two tops the last time I was in the USA on a buying trip. They were made by the same person but judging from the fabrics about 5 years apart. They were both hand sewn (and she was a backstitcher....makes things slower to unpick as you can't just yank the threads out) with these great strips of scrappy blocks but had been inset with flannelette.
Now don't get me wrong, flannelette can be great for a quilt, but I don't like it when its mixed with cottons. I make quilts for babies and little tackers in flanny when I'm being the cool Aunty. But I don't like it when its shoved in and gets all ikky alongside nice crisp cotton.

Top 1 - Yellow and grey flanny

Top 2 -Blue floral flanny

Fritz - who can't stop parking his arse on everything

So I unpicked the strips and removed the flanny and I was left with 17 x 2 mt long strips of fantastic prints. Late 40s and early 50s. There are some great ones in this lot.

I decided to take about 20 cm off the end of each strip to make up a few more to get the top a bit more square in shape than rectangular

After this, all I had to do was stitch the strips together and now, no more ugly ducklings. As two tops become one, I like how this has panned out. Nice and easy too.

Stitching the strips

Trimming the ends

Strippy Strippy

I have now found this reclaimed quilt back of the same era. It was taken from a tied quilt that I restored the top to. That top has since gone to a new home. But the new owner didn't want this back. It really didn't match the top which is why I took it off in the first place, it was added on at a much later date to a late 1800s top. I love a bit of wacky, but this just wasn't right.

So, I might finish this one off and put it on the spare bed in the back room. We haven't had the spare room for a few years as it was my office for ages but now the office is in the studio.

Up Close - 1940s Grand Mothers Flower Garden Variation

A lot of you have been quite interested in this quilt. So here it is up close so you can all get a better look at it.

The top was made some time in the 1940s. I picked it up on a trip to the USA a few years back and it sat in my stash for quite a while.
I decided that it was time for it to find another home, so it was purchased by one of my clients. Off it went to India where it was hand quilted in the traditional Fans pattern. It was then hand bound by me. Now its off to the other side of the county. So before it goes, here are some notes.

This quilt top was hand sewn. 1 inch hexys. What is so striking about this quilt is the use of black and the variation in the layout.

Notes on what you need....this is a big project! Brace yourself this is going to be a big one....finished is queen size. 225x210 cm.

Cut your template for fabric with an edge length of 1.5 inches. For a finished hexy of 1 inch. Cut your paper templates as 1 inch sides. I'd use template plastic or cut several from a cereal box to make sure you are not grinding the edges out too much. Or print off a pile on thin copy paper and snip out.

Black - 755 for centres and 'stars'.
White - 1062
Plains - this quilt has a mix of solids. Min 6 of each colour x 59. Or 354 in total - 59 colours x 6 hexys.
Prints - 708 - a mix of prints of min 12 of each - 59 prints x 12 hexys.

.75 yard/mt of additional white for inset edges.
.75 yard/mt black for binding.
Backing of your choice.

Vintage Grandmas Flower Garden - Cutting Plan

Start paper piecing and i'll see you in a few years....

Notes on this quilt... None of the prints or solids double up, some are really close but not the same. So start raiding that stash or ask friends if you can raid theirs for prints and plains to get this mix. You are aiming for 59 different plains and 59 different prints. Yay! We all love a challenge....