A presentation at Barcamp Canterbury 6 in in Canterbury, UK by Elizabeth Charlton
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Me/twitter Cat Geek quilt wasn’t the first or even second iteration of quilt 2
Gift from family Witchcraft = had 16 stitches but completely mechanical. No programming to tell it how to sew different things, just apparently magic Anecdote about the breakdown where it ran away at great speed (pic is of when ben fixed it) (Mention DMC’s “just sew faster”) Died for good when I broke the one single plastic part in an otherwise entirely metal machine after 3 months. 3
First sewing attempt. Lesson I learned – never use a regular straight stitch and sewing foot to try to write 4
Modern Super easy to use = speed control Witchcraft. Probably involves software or something. Absolutely perfect for a beginner, including speed control Here today, come have a go 5
Practicing with my new machine Made my first dress Started to bump up against problem of not being fast enough, and other limitations, especially when quilting 6
Taught me loads – using temporary spray mount sticky stuff an absolute must, measure twice cut once Nursery quilt size, made to fit a crib basically Really struggled to make a quilt even that small on the janome – the area between the needle and the main part of the machine is not very large, and have to roll the fabric really tight to be able to reach all parts, needed a walking foot to make the fabric bunch less 7
Mix of plastic and metal Seriously heavy Massive ~250 stitches – HOW?? Sounds like a dot matrix printer when it starts up Probably full of Discworld imps – beyond witchcraft, this thing is downright terrifying in terms of capabilities. Definitely involves software Much bigger space between needle and main machine which means much easier quilting Built in walking foot – less likely to pucker Actually made especially for quilting 8
Sewing machine TNG is not a small or particularly puny machine and is dwarfed by The Alternate 9
Quillows – quilts that fold in to pillows – for my nieces The contrast with quilting on the janome is enormous So much more space Inbuilt walking foot = less puckering and bunching Roald Dahl quilt I miscalculated the amount of seam allowance I was supposed to use and ended up with a quilt that was quite a lot bigger than intended Made me realise I could make something bigger comfortably now 10
Tried loads to get him to pose with the quilts, even bribed him with dreamies – no useable photos 11
And I say this as someone who wrote a how-to guide for screen and irssi Looks dodgy, definitely isn’t. Or wasn’t in 2016 Nearly bought another load of patches while I was there getting screenshots for this talk It’s for cosplayers but I don’t cosplay, but I really wanted the patches so… 12
Vague idea of a plan when I ordered them I wanted to justify ordering patches from that website, the idea of the quilt was born They arrived Jan 2016 20 patches cover 11 fandoms/interests Harry Potter Star Trek Star Wars Flashpoint NASA Babylon 5 Lord of the Rings MCU BSG Firefly Stargate/SGA 13
Sewing actually involves quite a lot of maths When quilting you have to figure out the sizes of blocks and spacers to end up with a uniform size etc Only looks neat here because I had to copy it out again so I could actually understand what I was supposed to be doing 14
Pulled out all my fabric to see what patches would look good with what fabric Tried to keep the colours consistent with things in the show e.g. reddish brown for firefly yellow for sga (medical) bsg on fabric that has stars on it Shuffled stuff around so no two colours next to each other Pre-washed the fabric to reduce puckering later Cut blocks, ironed patches to middle of blocks, sewed around the edges with thread that matched the edges of the patch 15
Then my mental health took a nosedive Didn’t feel worthy of something of my own – placed everyone first – so made stuff for everyone else Quilt was put aside for taggies, hairbands, scrunchies etc Time wasn’t entirely wasted though – made other quilts so honed my skills somewhat 16
Therapist basically knocked me upside the head and strongly suggested I do something for myself so I unpacked the quilt Joined together all the pieces with the spacers 17
Find it hard to visualise size and distance Different to see it put together than the vague idea the maths gave me 18
Table space, sewing machine, sewing machine space, fabric, scissors, haberdashery In my case a lot of floor space – Quilting and clothes making are both very dependent on floor space – a flat place to lay out fabric 19
It was clear I didn’t have enough space for this quilt – borrowed a friend’s dining room floor 20
Sandwiching is constructing the quilt Needs backing, batting, and quilt top. Other pieces should be bigger than top Lots of patience to get it positioned correctly without wrinkles Spray mount is a lifesaver. Much easier than pins to use and keep stuff aligned Ended up walking on my knees around the quilt getting everything positioned for nearly 2 hours Basting/tacking – big stitches around the edges that keep everything where you put it until you can sew it properly 21
All quilts need to be held together somehow, keep the layers tight together without bunching at one end 26th October 2016 Some are very ornate – free motion quilting, flowers, leaves, amazing patterns I kept it simple and just went for expanding squares Just as well it was simple bc cat got involved 22
He decided quilt was so comfy that he wanted to curl up on it before it was finished, and spent most of the time I was quilting it flopping and dozing on it. Pretty sure it would have been twice as fast to do without the cat’s interference For the record, if you’re machine sewing don’t ever put your fingers where the cat’s tail is – your fingers should never be in front of the needle – it can go very wrong very fast 23
A way of finishing the edges Can only be done after quilting because otherwise if the fabric moves while sewing it’ll bunch at the edges First have to cut all layers to the same dimension as the quilt top, then attach the bias binding along one edge, fold over, stitch in place – all raw edges are hidden (that’s the process that Spock is sleeping on here) 24
29th October 2019 Best thing I’ve ever sewn and probably my favourite possession Greatly loved by me and my cat On my list of upcoming projects is a tiny quilt just for Spock so he’ll stop stealing mine Any questions? 25
The Making of a Geeky Quilt
for free. You
can too.