Secret Sewing project and a few fabric tips

Just wanted to pop in and give my quilty buddies a sneak peak at what I've been working on over the weekend.  It was top secret until yesterday.  Well I'm having so much fun keeping it a big secret... I'll keep the secret a little longer, until it's 100% complete.  Since the pattern is a secret let's talk a little about the fabrics in this adorable little quilt.

As you all know I'm no fabric snob.  Any fabric that I can stitch, can and will make it into a quilt.  We all love the designer line of fabrics but in my humble opinion adding "other" fabrics to the mix can extend your stash and give you a one of a kind quilt.  Here's a list of the fabrics used in the quilt above.  A couple  in the list below are not shown in the picture due to the secret not being revealed.

•  pink and white stripe -baby bed sheet thrift shop purchase
• white with blue dots- vintage swiss dots from my moms stash, they're fuzzy dots!
• pink and white gingham- linen baby bed dust ruffle, thrift shop purchase
• the flower petals- A.E. Nathan fabric-bought at Wal-mart about 10 yrs ago
• the blue floral print at the top of picture and pink floral at bottom of picture are also Wal-mart prints from way back when.
• the blue print in the center of the flower applique is a Joann's fabric.
• the green leaves is a from Jam's and Jellies by Jill Finley, Henry Glass Fabrics
• Fabrics that you can't see...another print from Jam's and Jellies 
• and the background will be a linen purchased at Joann's fabrics this past weekend using my 60% off coupon....WOOHOO!

The big secret for using a mishmash of fabrics is WASHING before using.  Yes even those precuts,  jelly rolls included.  Using pinking shears I pink the edges of yardage and the precuts I do nothing.  By all means DON'T throw them in the washing machine.  Soak them in sink or bucket of warm soapy water for about an hour then gently swoosh them around by hand to get out any sizing.  NEVER wring out the fabric.  Drain the sink and repeat the process, rinsing out the soap.  To remove the excess water, fold the larger pieces of wet fabric and press between two towels.  Smaller pieces such as charms don't need to be folded.   After removing out the excess water I spray the fabrics with starch.  The starch  helps hold the fabric together in the dryer.  But before they go in the dryer they hang on a wooden drying rack until almost dry.  Turning on the dryer and getting it nice and hot before tossing in your fabric is a good idea.   Then put fabric in a laundry bag and toss in  the dryer for about 10 minutes, this will shrink the fabric.  You should have very little fraying.

After the fabric is dry, let the pressing begin!  Pressing not ironing, no steam.  If you have a stubborn crease, spritz the fabric lightly with water because they already have starch.  Unless you want it really stiff then by all means starch it.  This may seem time consuming but really it's not that bad and the results are worth every minute.  The quilt below was made with a jelly roll, layer cake, and yardage.  All preshrunk using this method.

~ Lea Anne ~

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