And now I am finally allowed to share with you my very first customer quilt (not my first sale, but my first real paying big job).
I really enjoyed designing this quilt with the mother, Beate, who wanted to have a patchwork quilt made from her daughter's baby clothing. After working through a couple of sketches, I realized Beate wanted something "traditional" but also very bright and cheery - "modern."
That's the name I gave to the quilt - Trad Mod für Lilli!
It was very important to find a unity in the quilt. It isn't always easy taking old baby clothes and fitting them into a quilt. They are usually very different in color - some bright and some very soft. I found that it was simpler to use just the light colored & pink fabrics, mostly former onesies, and used stabilizer on the back so the fabric wouldn't pull when sewn together.
The best part about this quilt, is the fact that I was allowed to use really bright coordinating fabrics. I love color and found this really great fabric from Riley Blake called Apple of my Eye designed by the Quilted Fish. It has the pink in the main apple fabric and the rest is pulled from there. I simply love it. I secretly wished I could keep it myself. ;-) The backing is a cuddly flannel from Debbie Mumm called Love U Flannel for Moda. The striped binding is from the Sugar & Spice collection also from Riley Blake.
view all of the photos from TradMod for Lilli here.
Lastly, and most important, I have a very good long arm quilter, Brigitte Heitland of QD Service in Werther, Germany. She is honestly, the very best quilter I know! Her sense of style is impeccable. She came up with the the heart shaped designs which totally accentuates the theme of the quilt. She also created this really cool border quilting that does not "outline" the border strips as we typically do, but creates a new pattern.
I am always amazed to see what Brigitte can whip up with her long arm machine. Thank you so much!
If you are interested in having a quilt made from your children's clothing, please contact me. I would really love to make a boy's quilt.
Hallo Karen,
ReplyDeletediese "Krabbeldecke" ;-) ist ja wirklich wunderschön geworden! Wie findet sie denn die Mutter??? Vor allem dieses tolle gequiltete Muster in den weißen Blöcken passt klasse dazu!
Hallo Katharina,
DeleteBrigitte ist eine wahre Künsterlin auch mit ihr Long-Arm-Quilt-Maschine! Sie hat immer tolle Ideen. Sie hat die Herzen vorgeschlagen und sorgfältig gesteppt. Ihr Webadresse: www.qdservice.de
Viele Grüße
Karen
Hi Karen,
ReplyDeleteit turned out great, and the quilting on it is perfect.
Hope you will get to make a boy quilt soon.
KATRIN W.
Hi Karen, your this recycled idea is great. The quilt looks so good. So stylish and useful. Good post.
ReplyDeletecheap baby clothes
Love your blog! What a great idea. I have piles of baby clothes I was just going to throw away!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing such a useful post.
ReplyDelete