Hawaiian quilt

The Hawaiian quilt is finished. Quilted and bound.

I made a pillow case with 2 of the leftover strips. Gives the quilt wrapping paper and a storage bag and is just a pillowcase when the quilt is on the bed. Win, win, win.

Here is Rose at her graduation party feeding her nephew. I'd say she liked it.:)
Six down...only 2 to go. (Becky has 2 younger children that will also NEED Hawaiian quilts when they graduate- the next one in 3 years.)

 I'll need to make a label when my other sewing machine gets out of the shop.
If you are interested in the 'quilt along' instructions click on Hawaiian in my labels.

Hawaiian............. almost finished

Ta-Da! My modified Trip around the World or 6th Hawaiian one-patch top is finished.

Now I get to advice the Mother of the graduate on the back.

The first one we designed we put different fabrics on the back to reflect her son's interests. It took her quite a while to gather 1/4 yard pieces to put in the center of the back.

 

This is just a pink almost solid fabric.

This fabric was purchased in Hawaii when she took one of her children to college there. Then we used it on the back of her husband's Christmas present that year. (he is half Hawaiian and the reason she is having me make all these 'Hawaiian' quilts.)

 

This is a lovely lime green Hawaiian print we found at High Fashion Fabrics in Houston. We just might be going there again Friday to see what they have.(I am missing a picture of the 2nd quilt; a wedding gift, hopefully I'll be able to get hold of a decent picture of that soon.)

We need to purchase 6 yards for the back and 1 yard for the binding for the binding, unless we use scraps...we'll see what we can find.

Next week I'll quilt it and post it ONE more time.  Did I mention that she has 2 more children? I see 2 more of these in my future.

Hawaiian.... tips

Tip #1

What happens when you are stitching along and you see this;

 I cross the seams and go off the edge...then pull the quilt forward and continue stitching. After sewing the rest of the row I turn the quilt over and go back to the square I skipped;

 Then I trim the long threads and put it under the needle so that the feed dogs can ease the extra fabric in for me. As you are stitching hold the fabric a bit snug so the feed dogs have a chance to work for you.

 Here it is eased in, no tucks and that will press out.

Tip #2

Starch your piecing as you stitch. Especially if some of your fabrics are polyester; it helps the seams stay were you want them to. If you spray and then iron you are likely to get some dry starch on the surface of your quilt (not a disaster, but you want the starch to help you not just flake off)

 So spray what you are going to starch and wait.....

 .about 30 seconds should give a chance for it to soak into the fabric, then iron;

No flakes.

Tip #3

Sorry no pictures...but do not pull on the edge of the fabric to get the seams to align. The stitches will pop out. * Put your fingers inside an inch and tug there and then slide your fingers to the edge and hold the seam intersection until you are right up to the needle, stitch through the seams, stop* repeat from asterisk to asterisk until end of row.
I have 15 rows sewn...the big reveal will be soon.

Hawaiian continued..

Before getting to plan A the basic unit of construction is to take 1 short tube and decide where to use your seam ripper and unsew one of the seams.

I break the thread on one side in about 5-6 places.

Then on the other side slip the seam ripper under the thread on the opposite side and pull it out.

Then take the eyelashes of thread scraps out; it's easier to do it now than after you resew the seam and then try to pull them out.
Then take another strip and lay it against the first one and decide where you want the break to be and un-pick that seam. Then sew the 2 sections together. I back-stitch at the beginning and end of each row; I know that this quilt will not have a border added and it will get handled a lot before the binding gets put on. I also shorten the stitch length a little bit. I rarely use any pins but you can pin each intersection. Here is where your pressing everything as directed pays off. Then get the next strip and do it again. I always work from top to bottom.(no sewing in pairs and then sewing the pairs together; just 1 sewn to 2 then 1/2 sewn to 3 then 1/2/3 sewn to 4 etc...) After sewing row 1 to row 2 I stay-stitch the top of row 1. This keeps the seams from popping open with all the handling.
I press everything down after about 3 rows being sewn.

PLAN A

 Only use the strips from the 8 square long pile and make a narrow quilt that is 8 squares wide. (I only did 5 rows on the computer to illustrate.) Press each of the rows' seam allowance down.

Then do the 10 square strips to get something like this;  When constructing the 10 square set you have to pay attention to the fabric being placed in the first column so that it looks good with the 8 square unit. Press each of the rows seam allowances up.

Then sew them together in the middle. (It is not quite the middle).

I have done most of the quilts this way...BUT this quilt is getting PLAN B.

I noticed when I got ready to sew the first rows together that I had a strong print in the 8 square unit but not in the 10 unit...then I noticed a different strong print in the 10 unit that wasn't repeated in the 8...so plan B was invented;
I open up an 8 and a 10 unit and sew them together.
Then I open a 10 and an 8 and sew that together. Then sew those 2 long rows together. I back-stitch at the beginning and end of each row; I know that this quilt will not have a border added and it will get handled a lot before the binding gets put on. I also shorten the stitch length a little bit. I rarely use any pins but you can pin each intersection. Here is where your pressing everything as directed pays off, each seams nests perfectly. Then get the next strip and do it again; play with the placement of the 8 and 10 units in each row. I always work from top to bottom.(no sewing in pairs and then sewing the pairs together; just 1 sewn to 2 then 1/2 sewn to 3 then 1/2/3 sewn to 4 etc...)

After sewing row 1 to row 2 I stay-stitch the top of row 1. This keeps the seams from popping open with all the handling.
I press everything down after about 3 rows being sewn.

Can you see that I just flipped that first strip over? Because the squares are alternating cool and warm colors the squares will never line up the same? You will have some touch diagonally..but that's okay to me.
To get the quilt to 100 inches long you need to 25 rows. If you have cut 9 of each strata you will have 27. With my shortage of 3 strips I will have to make up 1 row with the parts of the stratas that had the short (narrow- less than 42 inches wide fabric) in it. You will have enough to make a pillow case...or top a laundry bag for the dorm room with the leftovers....

Keep going.
I have mine 1/3 together....Back to the sewing machine for me.

Hawaiian continued

Now that you have all the strips sewn together and sewn into a tube.It is time to cut them into short tubes. Straighten one end and then cut your big tube into 4.5" smaller tubes. As carefully as you can. I usually end up re-straightening my trips about every third cut. I think this is the hardest step; just take it slowly. I like to cut a strip 9" wide then cut it in half to 4.5" It seems to stay straighter that way.

After cutting them; deal them out....meaning; since you have 3 piles of 8 square strips. If they are labeled pile 1 pile 2 and pile 3 make them into one pile 123123123....etc.  Do the same for the 3 piles of 10 square strips.


Tomorrow I'll tell you about plan A and plan B.




I expected to get 9 cuts out of each strata. I had 2 fabrics that were much narrower than the rest so I only got 8 cuts out of 3 of the strata. I may have to use bits and pieces to get enough squares; I may make the quilt shorter. I don't know at this point.

Hawaiian continued

Graduation is getting closer...I need to work faster.... You may need to run over to Wal-mart ....in Hawaii to pick up the fabric for your back. (That's where the below was purchased.) While you are shopping pick up as new seam ripper, you will need it soon.

 

 Now that all of your strips are sewn together and pressed. You need to sew them into tubes, as if they were giant endless pillowcases. Do not try to match ends and then sew:

If you do your tubes will have wrinkles, kind of like this:

 Hold them up. Align the strips until they are flat and smooth. Similar to when you cut the edge of your fabric the first time; you get the selvages even and no diagonal folds along the fold of the fabric even if the ends are not lined up, then you cut.  Only now you are going to sew the far right edge to the far left edge to get the tube.Like this:

On this sample I will stitch along the orange to get my tubes. The ends will not match up. I have 3 of these 8 fabric tubes and 3 of 10 fabric tubes.

Hawaiian continued...

This is the first one of these I did. Here we alternated blue with anything else. Then I quilted crosshatches on my domestic machine. (That was before I had a long arm.)

After sewing them in pairs. Sew them into groups of 8 and 10. There must be an even number of strips in each set-up. You should have 3 sets of 8 strips and 3 sets of 10 strips.

Notice the little flip flops in the yellow fabric. I have three strips of that and decided to put 2 in one strata. Do not think that putting them on either end will keep them separated; it won't. Here I put 5 strips between them so that when I sew them into a tube they will not be right next to each other.

You must continue pressing them to one side; like this:

I pressed everything towards the cool color. So no seams are pressed towards the warm color strips.
The next step is different. See you tomorrow...if I have any time to sew.

Hawaiian quilt continues...

 This is what we are working towards, this one is alternating warm and cool colors but with a lot of the warm colors being pink. This quilt has even been to Hawaii. Do you see all that lime green? That is scraps of the backing of the owner's twin. Did that make sense?

Here are all of mine cut.

Now we get to sew them together. Fun and Easy. Sew a warm color to a cool color.
Hint with photos:
You cut the fabric and you are absolutely positive you cut each strip at 4.5 inches. Then why does this happen:

See that? One fabric is clearly wider than the other. When this happens STOP. Take the time to figure out which one is right. Take your ruler out and measure.

This time the blue is the one that is right. So reposition the fabric so that when sewn both will be 4.25"

I'm sewing with the edge of my 1/4" foot on the edge of the blue and the extra pink will no longer make that strip not fit with the others.
How long does it take to get these strips sewn? I took 2 sessions to sew them.

Honestly it is easier to press them now. I have waited in the past and pressed them all at once. A pain. Press now before going to the next step.
PRESS ALL THE SEAMS THE SAME. I AM PRESSING TOWARDS THE COOL COLORS.

It will take me a couple of days to get the pressing done. Not loving this step particularly since some of my fabrics are polyester and I have to be careful.

Hawaiian Quilt cont.

Cut.

4.5 inches wide.
54 width of fabric cuts
Make a cool and a warm pile. If you mix up the repeats in one pile you don't need to do it in the other.
These are not all 100% cotton. My friend is not on the same page with me on that. The quilts are getting heavy use and look pretty good still. I visited 3 of them yesterday.  :)

Hawaiian quilt

This is a modified Trip Around the World Quilt. I did a story about them, on my blog, in 2009, here.
I'm making a very generous sized twin. It can also be used on a double bed. 72 x 100 inches. Becky has quite a collection of Hawaiian fabrics that she has gathered over the years so did not have to purchase any for this quilt. In fact I had so many strips already cut, knowing that there were still 3 quilts to be made, I only needed to cut 6 more strips.
This quilt is a 1 patch. All squares. I need 450 squares (4.5 x 4.5) or 54 strips of 4.5" wide fabric (width of the fabric.)

If your use 2 strips of each fabric you will need

• 1/4 yard of  27 different fabrics. For a total of 6.75 yards.Half cool colors; half warm colors.
• backing;  6 yards
• binding; 3/4 yard-exactly- so get a bit extra (for a 1/2" double binding)

 We organized this quilt into alternating squares of cool and warm colors. In the past I have done many combinations.

•  all green alternating light and dark greens (not Hawaiian). Story here.
•  red, white, and blue one was alternating 1 blue fabric with different red and white fabrics. (To do that you will need; 3.5 yards of the blue and 13 1/4 yard pieces of the red and white fabrics.) Story here and here.
• blue Hawaiian alternating with anything that wasn't blue- a wedding quilt; story here.and pictured above.

To find this many Hawaiian fabric we went on line and purchased from Hawaiian Fabric.

Hawaiian quilt-a-long

I'm doing my first quilt-a-long.
I figure since I get to make this quilt, again, I might as well post about it and then I will keep on track.
First a little history; my first finished quilt was a 'Trip Around the World' made in about 1983 for my oldest child. Here it is in it's faded glory. (It is machine quilted here, but originally was tied.) It took me a week to piece it. Then another week to put the borders on and then a week to tie it. 

Then I taught a class at church and helped 5 ladies each make one. I also made 2 for a friend.  My 2 boys have a twin size each and one has a baby size. Here I did it in miniature...well not miniature, just small.

Here I messed up the pattern to get random red squares but used the same 'pillowcase' technique.

I did another one using just green fabric (my daughter's favorite color).

Then a friend came and asked me to help her make a quilt for her eldest's graduation from high school.His father is half Hawaiian and so she wanted to make an Hawaiian quilt. In 2 month's. It was clear that she didn't know what an 'Hawaiian' quilt was and so we invented our own. Knowing that it would be heavily used in a dorm room it needed to be durable. Using the 'pillowcase' or 'cut no squares' technique I have made 5 of these for her. Now I'm starting the 6th.

I will post yardage requirements tomorrow. This is going to be fast. The quilt has to be finished by graduation; the end of May.
I can almost do this in my sleep but not quite yet.
So what is the total? How many of these have I made?