Monday, June 6, 2011

A test of patience

Deciding not to spend money on fabric for the back of the batik quilt, I took out the pile of tenugui showing all kinds of children's games. My fourth daughter is an early-childhood teacher and I'm sure she will get a kick out of this collection of tenugui. Friday I made use of the floor space at my quilt friend's house to arrange the selection and began sewing the towels together by hand. There was a bit of a trick to this because the towels are not all the same length or width. Choosing pairs, I sewed them into strips which are close to the same length. This puts the center seam at different points down the center but one of the quilt ladies thought if I press the center seams open, the mis-match will probably not show much after quilting. That seems like the best plan of attack.


After joining the rows, I find that this section is still too narrow for the backing. Rather than add more of the children's towels sideways, I decided to use yukata fabric for the outside edges. I have a lovely floral but it is on dark blue and I think the bamboo on white looks a bit better.

With no place to spread out and arrange the borders, I spread a tarp on the street outside my house so I could figure out a plan. The tarp was too narrow so the yukata fabric is on the street. A light spring breeze kept turning the corners and before I was finished I had to fold it over several times to allow bikes to pass. The section of road behind the camera is only the size of the green tarp, about two meters. For that reason, at least, I did not have to deal with cars.

After looking at the size of the backing, it appears the towel section is too long by about half the width of a row of tenugui. Rather than trim the lower row of children, I decided to remove the second row from the bottom since those children are a bit larger in size. Then I re-positioned the bottom row and added the bamboo to the lower edge as well as the sides. I will not feel as bad about cutting off part of the bamboo as I would spoiling the children in play.

The thing is, now that I sit and look at this picture, I recall the yukata fabric I used for the border of the kaleidoscope quilt (a kind of braided link design) that is just about the width that I need and I bet I have just enough already cut too. Then, again, that might be just a bit too strong a pattern. Un-sewing and re-sewing seams of several meters takes a lot longer by hand so I want to be sure before I go that far. This is the time I really wish for a very large empty room.

11 comments:

  1. What interesting fabrics you're using. I had to look up "yukata" and "tengui" on google to learn what they are. I sounds like your quilt back will be lovely, soft, and beautiful. Are you sewing the entire quilt by hand? Yes, it seems like I remember you saying that you did not have a sewing machine. I hope things are better for the Japanese citizens now. I know it's goint to take a long time to recover from the tsunami. You are in my prayers.

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  2. Julie I love these towels for you backing - I know your daughter will too. They are so unusual, especially here, that the back itself would be quite a conversation piece. blessings, marlene

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  3. What an unusual but neat idea. Love it.

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  4. I can't imagine doing this on the road! Did you draw an interested crowd? I think your backing looks beautiful. Did you find the batik you needed for the border? I was going to ask what you were looking for to see if I had anything that would work for you.

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  5. This is only the quilt back and yet it seems to have demanded so much from you already. When I do the quilt backs I just rush it without too much thought. Maybe I should take a leaf from your book...

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  6. Wow! You put a lot of thought and effort into the back of your quilts! It is looking absolutely beautiful! Way to go!

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  7. I have this wonderful image of you kneeling out in the road working on this quilt backing and being a little irritated as the corners blow in the breeze. I don't have a very big space to work but I haven't yet had to work in the road although I did piece a border out on the grass once - it was such a sunny day and I didn't want to be inside but I did want to sew. I love the way you are using the tenugui and you were so right not to cut the children! This back is worthy of being a front, I'm sure your daughter will love it, especially as it is so appropriate to her work. Thanks for sharing your progress.

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  8. Hi, Julie! Thanks for visiting my blog. Your quilts are so amazing! Do you also piece everything by hand? You use such different, unusual fabrics. I guess this is what is available in Japan? Love, love, LOVE it. I will stay a while and take a look at all your work! Thanks again.
    Linda

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  9. This is such a lovely quilt! It's very refreshing to see something different from everything I see in the United States. Thank you for sharing! :D

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  10. OMG! I have tenugui that I will use as a runner on my dinning room table in the summer that looks very similar. I place it out as a reminder of summer festivals in Japan during those hot humid days.

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