Valley Lake Sunset Pillow

Pattern/Technique: Kalaloch Pillow from Simple Geometric Quilting by Laura Preston

Added zipper using Covered zipper pillow tutorial by Lisa Bongean

Materials:

• Fat quarters: Peppered Cottons Garnet 26, Saffron 25, Paprika 32, Flame 16, Magenta 42, Parrish Blue 67

• 1/2 yd Peppered Cottons Ink 45

• 3/4 yd Peppered Cottons Marine Blue 11

• Aurifil 50 wt color no. 4182

• Quilters Dream select cotton batting

• 1/2 yd Kona cotton natural (for backing of quilted panel)

Fabric purchased from Cottoneer, Shot & Pepper

New skills: strip quilting

Lessons: I'd read in one of my quilting books that it isn't necessary to block / straighten fat quarters before cutting into them, so I didn't do that. But I definitely noticed I had a lot of loose threads fraying from the strips. This wasn't necessarily a problem, but I did have to manage them.

The pattern called for short blue strips that were slightly shorter (10.5") than the colored strips (11"). I would cut 11" strips of these to have a little extra in case of inaccuracies while piecing.

I'd cut slightly longer long blue strips (maybe an inch longer) because there were some inaccuracies in my pieced strips, so I offset them to make sure that the center panel (yellow/dark red) was aligned. I ended up having to trim down the length of the pillow by ~0.5" so that the edge of the fabric would be within the seam allowances.

Ironing on a wool felt pad produces incredible results when piecing.

It's critical to check the following settings on the sewing machine before every use: presser foot pressure, stitch length, tension, and needle size/type. I started out piecing using a chrome denim needle (bleargh) which I switched out partway through the project. I then forgot to cancel the needle offset after switching out my zipper foot and ended up driving the needle (breaking it) down into my 1/4" plastic quilting foot (cracking the foot, ugh).

I had quite a bit of trouble with skipped stitches while piecing. (Confession: I didn't resew the seams because I would be quilting them in the ditch and assumed that the quilting process would reinforce any janky seam.) I did a lot of research both online (this thread was a huge help), in my machine manual, and the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. Here's what I learned:

• The most common cause of skipped stitches is using the wrong size / type of needle for the weight of thread being used

• Aurifil 50 wt thread is 2-ply so it's thinner than a 50 wt 3-ply thread

• I tried a variety of sizes and types of needles (80/12 universal - skipped, 70/11 universal - skipped, 80/12 microtex - far less skipping, 70/11 microtex - no skipping) and eventually had great results with a 70/11 microtex needle

I'm not sure what I should do when I go back to garment sewing - whether I should pick up some 40 wt thread, or use the same size/type needle I've been using for quilting.

While quilting, I had to drop the presser foot pressure a lot more than my initial setting (intially 4.5, and dropped down to 2) because the quilt top was getting distorted / pulled while I was making the horizonal lines. I'm wondering if this might have also been exacerbated because I was quilting across the grain of the fabric, and I've read that the cross-grain tends to have a little more give.

While sewing in the zipper, the fabric stretched a ton. Again, I'm wondering if this is because I was sewing across the grain and maybe the fabric was stretching out while I was attaching the zipper. I managed to get things to work, but the zipper was definitely doing some wonky stuff while I was trying to topstitch it and I had to do some Grade A fudging to get it to work. Definitely need to do more research here.

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I used a chaco liner and a hera marker to mark quilting lines - both worked effectively, though the hera marker might have been slightly better because it didn't get chalk on the thread, causing it to look a little dull. Most of the chalk has rubbed away as the pillow has been used, and it's now unnoticeable.

The pillow insert I had on hand (recycled from an old throw pillow) was 13x24 inches and I considered reducing the pillow width by an inch. I'm happy I didn't end up doing this because 14x24 and 16x26 are far more standard pillow insert sizes when I eventually replace the existing insert.

What I'd do differently: Piece and quilt a test swatch to make sure I have the right needle for the fabric I'm using.

While my strips had some alignment inaccuracies, I think that improving is mainly a matter of continuing to practice piecing.

Care: Hand wash, lay flat to dry

Infinite Curtains

By far the best part of the new apartment is having a guest/sewing room. The old place was very small so I sewed at the kitchen table, ate at the coffee table, and lived with a mess. I'm especially stoked about how the curtains turned out (marathoned 6 sets in a weekend), but I won't talk about the bedroom curtains, which had a 2in difference b/w the left and right side. (Oops.)

Technique: I marked each curtain where it hit the floor, then added 1 1/2in to give a 3/4in seam (turned twice). Then I cut, pinned, and pressed the seam before sewing.

Lessons: Pro tip from my mom: use a longer running stitch when sewing with thicker fabrics to avoid puckering.

Ikea sells blackout curtains, which you can easily hang behind cute patterned curtains (hooks included).

If you're going for floor-length curtains, aim to have the bottom to be within 1/2in of the floor to avoid a weird cropped look. (Remember that bedroom curtain?)

What I'd do differently: Don't measure a curtain on the bed instead of a firm surface. Ugh. My mom—her wisdom is infinite—suggested reattaching the cut edge and making a box pleat to tidy it up so I'll give that a shot.