January 01, 2006
Fulled Wool Quilts
Finished both of these pieces last week, they were made to be lap quilts and are marvelous to snuggle under. I've made a number of similar quilts in the last few years, some are decorating walls while others are on beds keeping family and friends warm. The tops are made of pieces of fulled wool joined by zig-zagging over the butted-together edges.
approx. 48 x 50" The center field of squares are quilted diagonally, the quilting in the border areas runs parallel to the edges
pieced back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
approx. 40 x 48" Quilted with burgundy-pink-black variegated thread. My cat Felix insisted on laying on the quilt during this photography session as you can see!
Whole-cloth backing using a piece of fabric that came bundled in with some other things in a yard sale purchase last spring. Turned out to be exactly the size I was looking for when I started thinking about backing this quilt.
I cannot say enough good things about working with fulled wool. I love the way it feels, it gets very, very soft as it is fulled. I love the amount of stretch and ease that are available with this fabric, and it responds wonderfully to steaming, allowing the fabric to be contorted and manipulated in amazing ways. Most of it retains interesting textures from the patterns originally knit into the fabric, and usually both sides of the resulting fabric are equally usable. The fulled fabric doesn't fray or ravel, and is dense enough to hold the zig zag stitching without tearing out while I am working on it. I always put a backing on these wool tops because the weight of them would pull the stitching out eventually. I usually use a piece of a cotton sheet between the top and the backing. The resulting quilts are very warm and quite heavy, and they have an unmistakably luxurious feel to them.
¶ 4:16 PM
approx. 48 x 50" The center field of squares are quilted diagonally, the quilting in the border areas runs parallel to the edges
pieced back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
approx. 40 x 48" Quilted with burgundy-pink-black variegated thread. My cat Felix insisted on laying on the quilt during this photography session as you can see!
Whole-cloth backing using a piece of fabric that came bundled in with some other things in a yard sale purchase last spring. Turned out to be exactly the size I was looking for when I started thinking about backing this quilt.
I cannot say enough good things about working with fulled wool. I love the way it feels, it gets very, very soft as it is fulled. I love the amount of stretch and ease that are available with this fabric, and it responds wonderfully to steaming, allowing the fabric to be contorted and manipulated in amazing ways. Most of it retains interesting textures from the patterns originally knit into the fabric, and usually both sides of the resulting fabric are equally usable. The fulled fabric doesn't fray or ravel, and is dense enough to hold the zig zag stitching without tearing out while I am working on it. I always put a backing on these wool tops because the weight of them would pull the stitching out eventually. I usually use a piece of a cotton sheet between the top and the backing. The resulting quilts are very warm and quite heavy, and they have an unmistakably luxurious feel to them.
¶ 4:16 PM
