Modern Selvage Quilting - a book review & giveaway!

"Unsuspecting, a creatively inclined woman walks into a yard sale; a quilter walks out."

This happened to Riel Nason, Canadian author, mother, quilter and lover of selvages. She left that yard sale with a huge box of random fabric for $6 and proceeded to cut out her very first quilt with fingernail scissors because they were the sharpest pair in the house.

I haven't (yet) met Riel, but I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing her fun and original selvage quilt creations, first on Flickr and now on IG.  When it comes to creating with selvage edges, her imagination knows no bounds! This is a person who mounted one-woman show of Hallowe'en inspired selvage projects entitled "1/4-inch Scream". Awesome!

Her new book Modern Selvage Quilting contains instructions for 17 projects using selvages. 

"Selvages are like ticket stubs you keep from a fabulous show"

(how true!!)

Like Riel, I was smitten after discovering selvage quilt projects online. Jodi's remarkable selvage dress was my first introduction to the concept of saving and using selvages (I'd tossed them for years before realizing they were usable. Gasp).  Then I came across Riel's adorable snowman quilt . By that time, I'd started saving selvages. My first projects were very small - some cute little mini coin quilts, then some larger spool quilts and finally my prized Selvage Colourblock Quilt (made from 4 years worth of selvage-saving).  After that quilt, I figured I was done and gave all of my leftover selvages away, except for those incredible linen Echinos with shaggy edges and interesting text.  Those I've kept. 

If you were like me and have yet to discover the fun of saving and making with selvages, you'll find Riel's book is an excellent resource. She covers everything from cutting (just how much printed fabric should you cut off with your selvage edge, anyway?) to sorting, planning, measuring, pressing, sewing and ultimately creating projects efficiently with your selvages.  You'll also find tips on how to label, quilt and care for your selvage projects.

You'll find a variety of projects, in addition to the expected quilts. One that I would normally find too cutesy (a window valance) actually takes on a meaningful kitsch when made for your sewing room with favourite selvages. I also love the lattice pillow (above) - it would look perfect in any modern sewing space, or living room for that matter!  

Definitely the most unexpected quilt design in the book for me is the selvage medallion quilt - it is a great modern pattern that I think would be really fun to make. That X border is so good.  It almost makes me want to start saving my selvages again!

Have you got a selvage collection? If not, are you keen to start one now that you know there's a book full of cool modern projects you can make with them? C&T will give one random commenter a free copy of Riel's book (a US winner will receive an actual paper copy, an international winner will receive a digital version). Leave a comment that includes, or links to, your email address (if I can't contact you, I'll choose a new winner) and tell me about your favourite selvage-y project!

ETA: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to commenter #42: Bea, you've won a copy of Riel's book!

Check out the rest of the tour here:

May 10 Riel at C&T Publishing Blog

May 11 Cindy at Live a Colorful Life

May 12 Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl

May 13 Diane at Butterfly Threads Quilting

May 16 Krista at Poppyprint

May 17 Casey at The Studiolo

May 18 Leanne at She Can Quilt

May 19 Sandy at Upstairs Hobby Room

May 20 Mel at The Quilting Room with Mel

May 21 Riel at The Q and the U

Bloggers Quilt Festival - the ROYGBIV Selvage Edition

International Quilt Market is in full swing in Houston this weekend, so that can only mean one thing: I'm not there! Hehe, while that is true, what it really means is that it is time for the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted, as always, by Amy's Creative Side.

Last spring I discovered (on Instagram) that my friend Diane was using her selvage collection to make string blocks. She asked if anyone wanted to participate in a selvage block-along. I probably had a ton of other sewing to do, but I also had a selvage drawer full to bursting and it seemed like a good idea to just get busy and make something substantial with all of those pretty selvages.

I know myself. I know that true 'random' doesn't work for me. I will always try to group colours or patterns, or match prints even if I'm not trying. So I decided to forego the random string idea right from the start and instead organized all of my selvages into piles of colour.  They almost completely covered my little sewing room floor!  Then I designed an easy 10 1/2" Selvage Colourblock (tutorial here) that would keep my inner organizer happy.

Four of these squares pieced together give you a lovely diamond of solid colour in the middle, surrounded by related selvages in a 20" block!  I chose my longest selvages for the very first strings next to the solid triangles so that they'd have a nice frame around them to start.  And then I went CRAZY RANDOM....within the same colour grouping, of course.

These blocks came together really, really fast. I had an absolute ball making them and I so enjoyed using the selvages that I'd been diligently saving for four years.  When this quilt top was complete, B said "Cool!......Wait, is that all from your own fabric?!".  I think you know my answer.  The only colour that I had to raid my stash to cut more selvage off was purple.

I used yard-dyed Essex for my black & white block centre and I love how it looks!  I wasn't sure how to fit black into the rainbow, so I ended up putting it smack in the middle of the quilt.

Once all of my 10 1/2" blocks were made I got kind of excited and pulled all of the newsprint foundations off. In retrospect, this wasn't such a great idea. All of those selvage edges cut at 45 degrees are the worst kind of stretchy! Now I was in a pickle. I had to figure out a way to stabilize the blocks and piece them together while keeping the quilt square. In the end, a skinny white sashing was my solution and I used the BigHugeLabs mosaic tool to help confirm my decision.

In the final layout, the 1" sashing borders every 10" block

I was seriously loving this quilt (and there was still quite a bit of selvage on my floor), so I decided to keep going and add a border to enlarge it.  The border is colour-blocked, too! I pieced selvage strings into 4 1/2" wide strips of newsprint and planned the border colours to coincide with the outside blocks of the quilt top. The quilt ended up about 75" square. It's quilted with a wool batting (a first for me - I like the puffiness!). I stitched the ditch around each block to stabilize, then stippled with matching coloured thread over the selvages.  The border is quilted with a figure 8 pattern. This quilting may have required a rather extravagant custom Aurifil thread box purchase.  As you might expect by now, the binding was also pieced to match the colour-blocking.

 

I'm so happy that I saved my selvages so that I have this beautiful memory quilt of all my favourite fabrics. Once this quilt was done, I cleaned up my remaining selvage strings, stuffed them in a big plastic bag and gave them to a friend. I won't be making another selvage quilt and it isn't because this wasn't a ton of fun, it's just that I don't feel like saving and storing selvages anymore. I'm on to the next thing!  

Here's Selvage Colour Block hanging at my traditional guild's show last June. The entire summer and fall got away from me and I still have not succeeded in a proper outdoor photoshoot for this quilt!

Thanks for getting through this super long quilt story. If you've still got any tea left in your cup, go and check out the other festival entries here!

Selvage Colour Block Tutorial

I'm very pleased to say that Project Big Project is now complete for the time being and I am back at the sewing machine!! Thanks for hanging in there, I know Poppyprint has been rather quiet for a few months.

Although my UFO list is as long as my right arm (which is slightly longer than my left), I have jumped back into sewing with a brand new project. If you're an Instagram follower, you know that I've been working my way through the selvage drawer. It's about time, because I could hardly cram another strip of fabric into that drawer!  I've made a few small selvage projects over the years, which you can see here, here, here and here.  Recently my friend Diane posted her selvage string blocks on IG (where she is ylmommyx4) with the hashtag #selvageblockalong and I was immediately inspired to get busy.

If you google, or search Flickr for "selvage", "selvage strings" or "selvage quilts" you will find several different options. For a couple of years, I'd been thinking of sorting my selvages by colour and using them in a colour-blocked quilt somehow. I just like to be a little more organized in my scrappy efforts: sometimes completely random is too much like work for me!  

The blocks I'm making are 10 1/2" unfinished, so a complete colour block (above) will finish up at 20" square. I haven't decided if I'll use my blocks like this, so I'm not going to sew them together until I use up all my selvage strips and see where things sit at that point.  Ideally, I'd like a usable quilt about 80" square, but I don't think I have enough selvage to get there as that would require 16 huge blocks.

Here's a quickie tutorial for the blocks I'm making. 

Supplies for one 20 1/2" (unfinished) Selvage Colour Block

4 squares newsprint paper 10 1/2" x 10 1/2"

2 squares solid colour 5" x 5" cut once on the diagonal

a pile of selvage strips 10" to 40" long* matching your solid colour

disappearing fabric pen

*note that I generally cut my selvage with at least 1" of print above the white selvage strip. If the selvage is extra 'hairy' with a long fringe of threads, I carefully cut the fringe off without compromising the finished edge.

1. Fold the paper once diagonally and crease to mark the diagonal OR draw a pencil line corner to corner. This is a guide to help you keep your strips running at 45 degrees.  Mark a 1/4" seam allowance on the long side of one solid triangle. Pin the solid triangle to one corner of the paper foundation, with the marked diagonal lines parallel to each other.

2. Place the first selvage strip on the solid triangle, overlapping the finished selvage edge to the 1/4" marked line. Pin in place. I used my longest selvage (you need about 40") for the first strip on each of the 4 squares that will make up one colourblock. If I decide to piece my blocks like the one shown above, with a central solid diamond, having the same selvage print outline the solid will better define it and give it a more balanced appearance.

3. Using a reduced stitch length for security and also to make it easier to remove the paper foundation later (I reduce to 2.0 from a 'normal' 2.5), topstitch the selvage strip with an 1/8" seam allowance.

4. Repeat step 3, making sure each selvage strip is long enough to completely cover the paper and overlapping the previous strip by at least 1/4". I just eye-balled this and most of mine are probably overlapped by 3/8". Continue until the entire foundation is covered.

5. Press the completed foundation with a dry iron. Turn the piecing upside down and trim the square to 10 1/2" using the paper as a guide. Because all of the trimmed selvage edges of the square are on the bias, I plan to keep my paper foundations on until the squares will be sewn together.

MAKE 4

Just a couple of notes.....Seam allowances here are only 1/8" or so. The smaller stitch length will help keep these seams intact over time, but I will likely quilt this heavily for extra stability. Selvages have tiny permanent holes in them where the fabric was attached to the printing rollers.  There's a good chance that the batting will beard, or work it's way through these holes, over time.  I don't have any illusions of this becoming an heirloom quilt!  It's a fun project to use up interesting strips of fabric and to look at and remember favourite prints.  It's a quilter's Eye Spy! 

Here's the first blue one. There will be more as blue is my most abundant selvage pile!

If you make some blocks using this tutorial or any other selvage string ideas, please share on IG using #selvageblockalong !  You can also join and post photos in Diane's Selvage Block-Along Flickr group . 

No selvages in your stash? Start saving now. You won't believe how fast they accumulate! I typically don't cut off the selvage until I am going to use the fabric in a project, however if I want to see this quilt idea through to a finish, I may have to raid my stash for more strips. 

Hope you're having a lovely weekend. I look forward to hanging out with you here more often again!

Cushy Canada Day finish

It's a scorcher of a Canada Day here in Vancouver. My sewing room on the top floor is indeed a sweat shop, so I chose to stitch the binding on this pillow downstairs in the relatively cooler (less stifling) dining room.

I pieced these beautiful French General selvages onto muslin last month on retreat, then added some mitred borders and finally quilted the pillow front onto fusible Pellon fleece. The quilting is just straight lines of Aurifil 12 wt, sewn with a 100/14 topstitch needle.

Some selvages are ones I've saved, some I cut from my delicious fat quarter stack of Petite Odile and others were donated by my friend Sandi.  I think French General makes the most beautiful selvage in the business! I just love the pastry scallop print/dots on the opposite side of the yardage from the white (with words) selvage.  I've used it many times as a border.

You can get a good idea of the quilting thread weight here

There is a concealed zipper on the back, done the same way as in my Dresden Pillow pattern. One day I'll tackle an invisible zipper on a pillow....I managed one on a new skirt I made yesterday! Very exciting indeed and as soon as I get some photos I will share that with you.

It's a quiet holiday for me; it's the first year in about 12 that we've not attended the local parade as a family. The kids are doing their thing with friends and B is off racing in an epic 7-day stage race through the mountains of Vancouver Island, down the coast and then up to Whistler. It's a mountain bike race, mostly on amazing single track trails.  Racers from 29 countries came to compete (including a reported 100 Mexicans!).  It's so hot, many riders suffered electrolyte imbalances, dehydration and likely some heat stroke. He didn't eat enough, so the last hour of 3.5 hours racing was tough yesterday. Today was mostly shaded and he ate and drank more: he had a great day. We'll be in Whistler to welcome him to the finish line on Saturday.

If you're a Canadian at home or abroad (ahem, Susan), Happy Day!!

Remember to add my blog to a new reader today. I've got a Bloglovin' button up there on the left. Apparently Google Reader is shutting down, but I haven't actually seen any evidence of that. Is this whole hoopla a scam, I wonder?

More Retreat Makes

We're at the end of school crazy time around here and while classes finished yesterday we are now in the throes of exam prep. Each of them have 5 exams to write to write this week. I may lock myself in my sewing room to keep from incessantly nagging them to "Get the heck off Facebook and study!"  Honestly, how does anyone make it through university these days with all the social media they have to keep up on?

Ok, so I'm really dragging this retreat thing out, but here are a few more pics. My spring retreat buddies are French General Fanatics. When we retreat, they both just bring bags and bags of every line of FG. And I mean every line. Then they proceed to make the most beautiful quilts, pillows, pin cushions, table runners and bags out of it!

To start, here was our basement sweat shop! The set up was perfect - big cutting table, individual work stations, a heater and carpeted floor. Our iron was just around the corner in the laundry room.

Isn't Rossie's bed gorgeous?! That's my dresden plate pillow pattern on the right - she 

made a beautiful one!

This is the quilt top Sandi got together. That border print is a fav of all three of us.

Here are our farm fresh breakfast eggs from local friend Sue's hens. And a sweet table topper by Rossie under the rose glass bowl.

Rossie's hand-quilted couch throw was super cozy in the mornings.

She made this gorgeous 241 Bag with Martha Negley's Farmdale feathers print and a French General linen look blue solid.

I was the beneficiary of a few choice selvage pieces and had some of my own to add so I got a start on this pillow top and made a few little pin cushions of similar design with leftovers

My second Scrap Vomit top is together. This time I used Kona pomegranate and a grey/white dot for the accent blocks.

I started free-motion quilting my first Scrap top that's been basted for weeks already. I was struggling with shredded top thread (I'm using a gorgeous variegated Sulky Blendable in 40wt). I tried 90/14 and 100/16 topstitch needles but the problem wasn't solved. I said a few choice words and soldiered on, but it was very frustrating.

A neighbourhood of tiny houses destined to become tape measure holders. I'm making these for the Fat Quarterly retreat sample swap. Laurraine's pattern can be found here.

I also made my secret partner's nametag for FQRLondon. I have to get that in the mail this week! The idea is that we send them in advance so we can arrive all nametag-equipped at the retreat Friday afternoon.

I think that just about wraps it up for spring retreat 2013. Only 31 more sleeps 'till I leave for London and I'm running a day retreat next Saturday as well, so there's plenty more social sewing in my near future. Yay!

Nice Threads!

Fat Quarterly Issue 8 launched today, so I can show you my fun new memory quilt.  If you're wondering why things have been so sparse here at Poppyprint since Christmas, it is because much of what I've been working has been under wraps. Lucky for all of us, it's sharing time!

I just love Fat Quarterly, so when the gang asked if I'd like to be part of their designer Spool Block challenge for Issue 8, I couldn't refuse (this is that special kind of 'working for free as long as it's for friends' stuff).  I think Brioni, John, Katy, Lynne and Tacha do an amazing job with their online magazine. You can't find a book's worth of project ideas for the price of one quilt pattern anywhere else!  The other Spool Block designers rocked this challenge and there are several very cool interpretations of the traditional block for you to try.

After making these quilts for K2 and K3 in November, I planned to create one for myself exactly like this 4-block layout.  It's my quilter's memory quilt and includes selvages of all my fav designer fabric purchased, stashed and (ahem) maybe even used, in the last couple of years.

You'll find the tutorial for creating one giant selvage spool block in Issue 8. It is super easy and fun; they sew up really fast because the selvages are simply top-stitched onto a muslin base.  I grouped cool-coloured  selvages into their own variegated thread spools and pieced warm backgrounds of Essex Linen orange and Pure Organics Maize. The warm-coloured thread spools have an unknown aqua linen and Essex Linen lime backgrounds.  The whole she-bang is bound in an Echo print by Lotta Jansdotter (purchased at the divine Marmalade Fabrics), and the quilt's name "Nice Threads" is ripped off from the Alexander Henry print on the backing (rows and rows of colourful thread spools on a white background).

I think this grey spool is my fav

All of the spool ends are made with Rouenneries selvages. I have about 6m of the Rouenneries linen-look print stashed and happily cut off the gorgeous selvage for various projects. It's too pretty not to use!  Each spool has some hand-done running stitches around it with perle 8 cotton.

So, if you're not yet a subscriber, head on over to Fat Quarterly to buy your copy of Issue 8 on January 30th. You won't be sorry and I bet you'll want to make everything in it!

And now, just for Happy Zombie Monica, my favorite little quilt zombie:

More surprises coming soon!

Variegated Thread Selvage Quilts

I'm at retreat. Well, not yet, but by the time you read this I will be yucking it up with my pals, sewing up a storm and sampling everyone's chocolate stash when they're not looking. Because my Krista Sista's have traveled so far to come (K2 from Seattle, K3 all the way from Anchorage via Seattle), I really wanted to show them how much I appreciate their friendship. So I made them each a 14" x 20" quilt in their respective colours.

This one will head home to Alaska on Monday with K3

Give me one good reason why I shouldn't bind every future quilt in this Joel Dewberry Heirloom print? It absolutely rocks for binding!!

I've made several Chinese coin quilts with my selvage collection, but ages ago I 'favorited' this quilt on flickr and asked permission to use it for inspiration. I made my spools slightly less wonky, but free-cut the angles on each side of the spool top and bottom. Those strips for the wooden spool were made using selvages from French General fabric (which I think has the most beautiful selvage that is totally worthy of using as a design feature!). I just love the idea of these 'variegated thread' spools functioning as fabric memory quilts - a sweet reminder of all my favourite fabrics. I will definitely make one for myself!

Here is K2's quilt, which I hope will reside in her Seattle studio.

I wanted to keep the quilts a surprise, so I've scheduled this post to go live after I've gifted the quilts. I'm so excited. Isn't it a great feeling to give someone a hand-made present? Even more so in this case because I am pretty sure they'll really like them!

I also have another teeny item for the three of us. I'll post a photo once we're all together with those ones, though. They have to do with identification. You see, with three Krista's in one room, there is bound to be trouble. When K2 visited me last year, my husband started the numerical reference (I think I got K1 only because he knew me first - NOT because I'm the, ahem, oldest). K3 is clearly the youngest by a longshot though, so in her case I'm sure being #3 is just fine with her!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as weeeeeeee aaaaaare (gloat, gloat). I'm only doing that because your virtual smacking is having no effect on me whatsoever.

Patience is a Virtue

If so, then Carol is the most virtuous among us. She has been waiting a very long time for this mini quilt, promised almost a year ago now.

Carol loves bright, primary & rainbow colours with black and white, so that's what she's getting! There some fun selvages in here. I think the binding is totally 'her', too. Lately Carol's been on a roll creating mini portrait quilts of her sewing friends. They are so much fun. Visit her blog for a look-see. You're sure to leave with a smile.

I've made several of these before, but this was the first time I had the brainwave (some of us are a little slow.....be patient) to add my label right into the stacked selvages. Clever.

I'm heading to the post office Carol. You won't have to wait much longer!

And as for you lot who are wondering about my subversive stitchery, I'm having second thoughts about sharing. I don't want to offend anyone, or do anything to damage my well-earned sterling reputation (cough, cough). Upon further investigation, it does appear that a reverse look-up on Google translate gives a rather clean version of my Latin stitchery...darnit. I was trying so hard to be naughty. Stay tuned.

SMS Giveaway Day is Here!!!!

Technically I'm a day early, but the giveaways have to be posted by 9:00 a.m. eastern time and I'm not into waking up at 5:00 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow morning to make sure that happens....so if you're surfing tonight, feel free to get your comments in and secure your chance to win.....

THIS

"Flights of Fancy"

Regular readers will recognize this as my latest mini-quilt obsession. You can see my previous two here and here. So much fun to make and I'm thrilled to offer this up for one lucky winner.

The bestest parts are (a) a top-secret and super fun backing on this which I will reveal with the winner's name, and (b) a sweet little quilt hanger that will accompany this mini to it's new home.

All you need to do is leave a comment (I'll ship anywhere on Earth. Sorry space station cosmonauts, but Canada Post rates are already out of this world). Don't forget to head back to Sew Mama Sew for your next Giveaway Day destination! Good luck and thanks for visiting....you are welcome back anytime.

Better yet, follow along and don't miss a thing!

The comments will remain open until May 20th, 9 p.m. Pacific time, at which time I will call upon the talented Random Number Generator to choose a winner. Please make sure you leave an email address I can use to contact you if it is not embedded in your comment.

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED...WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT FRIDAY MORNING!

Quilters Candy

Look at this pretty bonbon that arrived in my mailbox today from Mrs. Schmenkman (aka Amy).

Just because she is SEW nice, Amy bought me a sweet present that reminded her of this quilt I made recently. Look, it's a wee robin's nest handmade from porcelain.

It is made by Earthenwood Studio. It is entirely precious. As she said in her card, fabric was necessary to cushion the fragile cargo, so Amy also include FIVE FQ's!!! Wow, this fabric is so pretty - the colours amazing. I'm thinking a cushion may be in order. Couldn't you just see this with some natural linen?

It's Cherish Nature by Deb Strain for Moda...check out the selvage edge. I had heard here that some of the American printing companies were getting creative with their colour dots to keep up with their creative Japanese counterparts. Cool!

How incredibly sweet and thoughtful of you Amy....mwah! Thank you so much. The kindness of quilters never ceases to amaze me.

This comes at a great time, because I'm getting ready for two big things: RETREAT and GIVEAWAY (hmmm, may involve selvage)! Coincidentally, last year when I retreated with my two quilting buddies, we watched a mama robin feed her wee chicks in a nest just below the cottage window where we were sewing. I wonder if she returned this year? I'll find out tomorrow.

Be sure to come back on Monday for Giveaway Day! I'll (hopefully) have lots to show you next week....WARNING: productivity depends on the sunshine, lake temperature and wine supply over the next 5 days!