One More Quilting Sample

I found some old quilting samples hiding among my batting scraps not too long ago. Last week, I blogged about making seat cushions from the machine quilted samples.

There was one sample that I couldn’t bring myself to convert into something that would be dragged to outdoor sporting events — the hand quilting sample. This was the gateway piece, all those years ago, that made me think hand quilting a queen-size quilt should be my next project. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, this sample had a part in shaping who I am as a maker.

I made the sample in a class. It has polyester batting sandwiched by two pieces of white muslin. Thinking the plain white fabric looked boring, I used red hand quilting thread for my stitches.

I had some maroon upholstery fabric leftover from a previous project. Although the hand stitches are bright red, the colors look similar given that the small stitches are surrounded by white and the texture of the maroon fabric catches the light in different ways. I thought they would work well together as a throw pillow.

Making the Pillow
I squared the sample and maroon fabric to about 15 inches (38 cm). Using a nearby spool of thread as a guide for tracing, I rounded the corners.

As an extra detail, I cut bias strips of the maroon fabric to cover a length of cording. I think this particular piece of cording was salvaged from a shopping bag handle.

I attached the covered cording to the backing fabric. As I sewed, I noticed the maroon fabric was starting to fray. I also began to think ahead that the layers of the quilted sample may shift as I sewed them to the backing because the quilting is only in the center. To address those issues, I ran a zigzag stitch around the raw edges of both pieces.

I sewed the quilted sample to the maroon fabric with right-sides together, leaving an opening for turning later. Then I put the piece in a lingerie bag and ran it through the washer and dryer. After all, the quilted sample has been sitting around for a good 20 years!

I turned the pillow right-side out, stuffed it with Poly-Fil®, hand stitched the opening, and took a few photos. As I began to put my camera away, the pillow had already been claimed!

For a maker, I don't think it gets any better than that.

What do you like to make with your sample pieces?