Review: Kraft-Tex for Bags

Posted on April 12, 2015 by zippyquilts

I’ve had my eye on Kraft-Tex for some time. It’s a paper product made by C&T

$Kraft-Tex review$

Kraft-Tex, made by C&T but sold many places

and advertised to sew and wash like fabric but look like leather. As I’ve probably said before, I’ll try almost anything once 🙂 (And just for the record, I purchased the material used for this project and this review is entirely my own opinion.)

I decided to use Kraft-Tex as the bottom of a tote bag. There was a helpful video on You Tube (of course!) showing how to use it and showing what it looked like both washed and unwashed. Because I didn’t want to wash the drapery fabric I was using for the bag, I didn’t wash the Kraft-Tex.

The Kraft-Tex was very stiff right out of the package, so I wadded it up hoping to soften it a little before folding it to make the bag bottom. I didn’t really need to do that; it folded and sewed very nicely. It remained extremely stiff but was not at all difficult to stitch with my Bernina, even when it came to sewing through 4 layers as I boxed the bottom of the bag.

Tote bag made with Kraft-Tex for the bottom section

When I got it all put together it provided a nice substantial bottom for the bag, as I had hoped. It did not even THINK about tearing like paper when I was working with it. However, I really think it LOOKS like a brown paper bag rather than “like leather” as advertised. Maybe that’s just because I used it to make a bag. As you can see from this detail, it did stitch very nicely.

$Kraft-Tex bag$

Detail of Kraft-Tex and Drapery Fabric Bag

However, the claim that Kraft-Tex “handles like fabric” was absolutely untrue! It was so stiff that I decided to wash what remained along with the rest of the drapery fabric. Both washed and dried well on gentle cycle, and the Kraft-Tex was slightly softer after washing. It didn’t handle any more like fabric, though–turning that stiff outer bag through the opening left in the lining for that purpose was “challenging”!

Here’s the second bag, made with washed Kraft-Tex. Sure enough, it looks the same after washing. I quilted the upper part of the bag, which gave it more substance than the previous one, so it went better with the stiff Kraft-Tex bottom.

Bag made after washing the Kraft-Tex and fabric

The pattern I used for this bag was free at Bijou Lovely and was very well written and illustrated. I’ll probably make the bag again, but I’ll find another use for the Kraft-Tex!

4 Quilt Tops–Help Me Choose!

Posted on April 5, 2015 by zippyquilts

The theme of the Quilt Alliance challenge this year is “Animals We Love”. It gave me a hard time–I tried for weeks to think of something–then all of a sudden I had more ideas than I knew what to do with! So here are 4 tops I’ve made, and I need to decide which one to submit. Please tell me which you think is best! It may help if you’ll tell me why you like it as well (or why you hate it). All are 16 inches square, which is a requirement of the challenge.

#1: Cat Circus was designed using EQ7 and made using templates.

#2: Barnyard Whirl was cut freehand. The black fabric is printed with animal sounds. (Why do we teach little children to make animal sounds, anyway? Oops, a digression!)

#3: We Love Clams will have a thread-sketched cartoon clam (presumably looking worried about all that love) as a focal point when I quilt it.

#4: Untitled (feel free to suggest a title) again with the animal-sounds black fabric.And that’s it! Yes, I made 4 quilt tops! Please help me choose one.

March News x 3

Posted on March 29, 2015 by zippyquilts

First, here’s the stack of quilts my group made for Ronald McDonald House:

Second, here are some other projects along the way:

Gwen Marston Style Improvisational Blocks (made by me)

One of the blocks from our group block swap (24 inches square!)

Jerri’s start on a BIG Bonnie Hunter quilt

Improvised “slabs” for our next group block swap!

Finally, the March finish (as in, I am DONE with this one!)

Paper Piecing Gone WAY Wrong!

I bought this paper-piecing pattern for Storm at Sea in 2006 and cut the pieces over a (long) period of time with the intention of making it of scraps from other quilts. What I FAILED to do was to make a sample block before cutting the whole thing!!!

I wanted to paper piece this design so the points would be perfect. Instead, carefully piecing along the lines on the paper produced what you see above. The pattern and paper went into the trash, and the thousands of pieces I cut will be re-purposed!

I almost always make a test block, and now I expect it will be always-always instead of almost-always 😉

The Modern Sampler Continues

Posted on March 22, 2015 by zippyquilts

These next two blocks were made from inspirations I found on Pinterest (yes, I love Pinterest!) The first I simply copied because I loved the colors and their arrangement in the original artwork by Richard Paul Lohse.

Quilt block based on the work of artist Richard Paul Lohse

Here’s a drawing of how I constructed this block, with measurements, if you want to copy him, too. There are 4 units, each 4″ finished (4-1/2 inches for each unit before joining) so that the entire block is 8″ finished. I’ve marked the size to cut each piece on one of the 4 units, assuming you can take it from there 🙂

Layout for block based on art of Richard Paul Lohse

If you look up the artist Richard Paul Lohse, you’ll see that a lot of his designs would make terrific blocks or whole quilts. Great sense of color!

The second block was made from a tutorial I found at a website called Piece By Number and you can find the free pattern on her site here.

Circle of Geese block made from a pattern at PieceByNumber

This block was easier than it looks thanks to paper piecing. I enjoyed making it, though I feel no need to make another right away!

I think these two blocks have a lot of ZIP for the relatively little amount of effort they required. The Lohse block depends very much on choice of color, so be sure to lay out the fabrics and look at them a while before cutting. Have fun!

My Own Modern Sampler: It may take a year!

Posted on March 15, 2015 by zippyquilts

I’ve had some beautiful solids and black/white text prints in a box waiting for me to have time for them, and I’ve been studying all my favorite inspirations trying to decide how to use this stash.

Quilt-in-Waiting

Then it came to me: I don’t have to choose! I’ve been wanting to make my own modern sampler quilt for some time, and this is it. I’m going to make lots of different blocks, JUST BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE THEM and then combine them into this quilt.

Here’s how it will go: I’ll make a block whenever it strikes my fancy and will post about it here in case you want to make it, too. Some will be original, some traditional or designed by other quilters. I’ll make a quilt when I have enough blocks, but I’m giving myself a year. Blocks will range in size from 3″ to 12″ and they won’t all be square!

Here are the first couple:

Two 9-patch blocks cut freehand; these finish 6 inches square

Obviously the 9-patch isn’t a new block, and there are “modern crosses” all over the web, like this one from Allison at CluckCluckSew, so my idea isn’t unusual.

Quilt by Allison at CluckCluckSew.com

The point is, I enjoyed doing it! These blocks are just for fun.

I figure these are too easy to require instructions, but I blogged about how to insert those narrow yellow bands, so check it out here if you want to know how I did it. And, since they are cut freehand and end up a little wonky, I started with 8 inch squares to get 6 inch finished-size blocks.

I hope you’ll follow along with my sampler even if you don’t make the blocks. I’ve already made the next two (which are far fancier than these), and I’ll blog about them next week!

Perspective on Quiltcon

Posted on March 8, 2015 by zippyquilts

There are numerous blogs showing pictures of the winning quilts from QuiltCon, so if you want to see them go to Houzz or the MQG blog here and here. Lots of interesting quilts to see. Here are some of my thoughts:

Fill the Void by Cinzia Allocca

First, I was very happy to see that Fill the Void, by Cinzia Allocca, won a prize in the handwork category. This was one of my favorite quilts at the Vermont Quilt Festival last year, and the hand quilting really is beautiful.

I was happy to see some of my friends’ quilts in the show. Here is Jean with hers:

Jean Larson with “Floating”, her QuiltCon show entry

And here is Amy’s entry in the Michael Miller spring challenge.

The New New, by Amy Anderson

That really WAS a challenge for most of us who don’t often use pastels, but Amy met the challenge with a nice design, so I was glad to see it at the show.

There were several quilts that obviously drew from mid century modern art, though that was not referenced in the show notes. Here are two designs that were especially striking. They are Ethos by Natasa McFadyen and Amazonia by Nathalie Bearden.

To me, these look like mid-20th Century art, especially Mark Rothko.

There were several quilts that drew on common forms from mid-century graphic design. I thought this one was fun:

Bowls and Balls #2, by Rachel Kerley

Finally, I loved this quilt by Luke Haynes, which he frankly states is a re-working of the Andrew Wyeth painting “Christina’s World”. It’s a great example of how good design is good design, regardless of the medium. I particularly like that, although he has changed a number of details to make it his own, the reference is immediately recognizable to anyone who knows the original painting.

{The American Context #16} Christina’s World, by Luke Haynes

In view of a lot of this, I was interested to see in the newsletter from one of the modern guilds that they want to focus on “modern quilts, not art quilts”. Obviously the definition of “modern quilt” isn’t yet settled despite much discussion.

QuiltCon Fashionistas!

Posted on March 1, 2015 by zippyquilts

I go to a fair number of quilt shows, and most of them are attended by women (and a few men) in casual but unspectacular fashions. At QuiltCon, however, I saw so many women dressed in fancy outfits. Here are just a few:

Miriam, from the Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville

Miriam and her sister, who collaborate on most of their projects, had a great quilt in the show. (Her sister wasn’t this much of a fashion statement though–sorry Emily!)

Since QuiltCon was in Austin, lots of people brought out their boots. I love the look of boots with dresses:

Linda, an independent member of the MQG (Modern Quilt Guild)

Many of the women had dresses in prints that looked like modern quilts, including this one:

Emily of the Ann Arbor MQG

And a number of women had dresses and skirts they had made themselves. This woman had a dress to match her hair!

Julia of the Houston MQG

Check out how she even matched the pattern where she put in the zipper! If you’ve ever sewn garments, you know that’s an accomplishment. And the pockets were made from a cute safety pin print.

My friend and I loved this blouse, worn by Kelly of the Ventura MQG:

And finally, here is a different type of fashion statement–I’m riding a giant sewing machine! Why do you suppose my friend wouldn’t let me take a picture of HER riding it???

Pictures of my favorite quilts next week!

2015 Donation Quilt #1

Posted on February 22, 2015 by zippyquilts

A couple of my quilty friends try to make a quilt a month for various charities, so I thought I’d try that this year. The group with which I make donation quilts sends them to a Ronald McDonald House to be given to sick children. The House wants all quilts to be 40″ x 40″, which doesn’t seem too big to do one a month. Here goes….

For January I took some of my orphan blocks and related fabrics and made this quilt. The blocks also happen to be on my UFO list for 2015, so there’s TWO projects accomplished at once 🙂

February finish and January donation quilt

The blocks finish 12″ square, which means that with a 2″ border the quilt comes out 40″ x 40″ as planned. The 9-patch blocks were made using the stack and shuffle method I learned years ago from Karla Alexander’s books. It’s easy and fun. To end up with blocks this size, I started with 15″ x 15″ squares of fabric (since they’re cut wonky on purpose it takes a bigger starting square than you might think).

The center block has little inset strips using a technique I modified from one of Judy Niemeyer’s ideas. To make a quarter inch inset that doesn’t “wobble”, do this:

Block pieces, including yellow insert

Cut a 1″ strip of fabric and lay one edge along the raw edge of the piece where you want a narrow inset. Stitch through both the strip and the quilt piece 1/2″ away from the edge, either by using the 1/2″ mark on your machine’s throat plate or by marking the center of the strip.

The center pieces of the block have been jointed and the insert laid along the side

Fold and press along the seam-line so that you now have 3 raw edges, all lined up.

Strips have been added to all sides of the center pieces and pressed along the seam

I don’t usually trim away the extra fabric because I like the stability, but it DOES make for some weighty intersections if you choose not to trim away the bottom 1 or 2 layers. Then assemble the block as you normally would, using 1/4″ seams. The strip you added will show up as a 1/4″ inset.

Let me know if you try either of these blocks. I thought they were fun!

Tessellations! By Jean Larson

Posted on February 15, 2015 by zippyquilts

As promised, my friend Jean Larson has written a tutorial on tessellation quilts. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! –MJP

Tessellating designs make me happy. Tweaking those designs is even more fun. I want to share the joy of starting with a very, very simple design and watching it blossom. My inspiration comes from this web site: http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/tess/

Start with a simple gridded block and create a light/dark design. Here, I’ve started with a 3 x 3 grid. Then re-color the same block with the lights and darks reversed

.The grid lines are only for design purposes, and each block can be constructed with a single square block with 2 corner triangles attached using any method you prefer.

Here are some design possibilities…A simple “cat head” quilt using only 2 colors.

Different looks can be achieved with variations in the color placement.

Blocks can be inverted and turned for even more quilt designs.

Just imagine all the possibilities with color in these!!!!!

It’s even more complex when you design with a 6×6 grid. Here are the positive and negative versions of another block.

These blocks can be constructed using half-square triangles integrated with larger fabric pieces. If these blocks were to finish at 6 inches by 6 inches. The center column on each block would be a single 3.5 inch wide by 6.5 in long piece of fabric. The side strips would include some half-square triangles.

A couple of the quilts that can be made:

Looks like spools, some gray, some white, all standing up. Same quilt with alternate blocks turned a quarter turn yields a different clearly recognizable tessellation. Reminds me of tessellating doggie rawhide chews 😉

Now back to the spool quilt from above. The “thread” areas have been colored in. No blocks have been turned.

This shows the power of color and value (lightness and darkness). The colored part, being next to the gray and being closer in value to the gray, unites those parts of the block, and gives the illusion that we have all gray spools on a white background, some standing up, some lying down.

I hope these examples can be the seeds to sprout some design experimentation with tessellating shapes.

Start with 2 square grids
Create a positive design, and its negative design
Alternate them in a quilt layout
PLAY!
And play more with color!

Happy Quilting (and Designing)!! –Jean Larson

“Found” Designs

Posted on February 8, 2015 by zippyquilts

I took several pictures on a recent trip to illustrate “patterns and palates” I found along the way–or “designs and color schemes” if that has more meaning (though less alliteration).

The first thing I noticed is that, although I think of the Southwestern U.S. in terms of bright colors–turquoise, orange, bright blue–it really is pretty monochromatic, at least in midwinter. And a lot of the man-made colors that started out vibrant have bleached considerably in the bright sunlight. So here are a few patterns and color schemes I found interesting. Whether they ever make it into quilts remains to be seen!

These patterns found around the hotel definitely have some possibilities for both piecing and quilting. And they have so much grey they must be modern 😉

These color schemes were more what I was expecting. But the colors were found more in man-made things than in nature except for the bright sky. In that picture of the blue building, that IS the sky you see in the top right corner!