Friday, June 1, 2012

kona improv piecing

Lately I've been really intrigued by improv piecing. I came across this fantastic quilt by Valori Wells while looking through We Love Color book.


What I love about it is that it all seems so random and easy to do, yet a lot more thought has to go into this kind of improv piecing than one would think. It's like spending hours doing your hair just to get that "I woke up and walked out the door" look. You know what I mean? My oldest daughter is almost a teenager so I get to experience it a lot these days.


Well, I gave it a go  and this pillow cover was what came out of this whole experiment. My plan was to really go beyond my comfort zone - I decided to work with solids only. I don't usually do that, I prefer using prints way more than just solids.

You know what, it actually was not that bad. I tried not to over think the placement of my fabrics and I ended up learning how to achieve a decent curve while joining two fabrics, too.


I then quilted it in the random cross hatch pattern that Alex {teaginny designs} used to quilt her Flashdance quilt. This quilting looks so perfect with improv piecing, I think.


I then used washi fabric from my stash for the back of the pillow. The colors in this fabric were just a perfect match for all my solids. I like to use binding for my pillow covers as this way there are no raw or unfinished edges. And, it frames the whole patchwork pattern really nicely, too.


Do you have a favorite technique for finishing off your pillows. I'd love to know.

Svetlana 

 

11 comments:

  1. So pretty! And I just want to jump into that beautiful stack of pillows :)

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  2. Veeeery lovely! I recently bookmarked teaginny's crosshatch quilting design and want to try it sometime.

    So far I haven't used binding to finish off a pillow, though I'd like to. I was going to this past time, for my reunion cushions, but I didn't have enough of the fabric I wanted for all of them so I didn't do it on any of them. I do a tight zig zag on the inside though to enclose the raw edges as much as possible, which works for me.

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  3. These look great! I just made my first ones over the weekend....so I am still learning....

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  4. I bind my pillows too, I like this way to finish the pillows most.
    And I use Velcro for the closure. I love the white quilting, it looks great on the colored patches.

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  5. I love all your pillows, Svetlana! I need to start work on pillows for our family room this month.

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  6. Good for you for trying something new! Your pillow looks great. I like binding on my pillows sometimes, but sometimes I just sew around and turn them right side out.

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  7. It is beautiful! I think the binding gives a really nice finished look to a pillow, and like you say, I like the look of the frame.

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  8. So pretty! The binding was a really nice touch. :)

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  9. Svetlana, so pretty -love the fabrics and the quilting. I'm looking forward to doing some projects with solids, I think they have so much possibility.

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  10. these pillows are gorgeous! love them!!!

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  11. Well done on stepping out of your comfort zone, it looks great! I usually French seam my cushions so that there's no raw edges anywhere

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