Slow sewing- Creating a quilted vest

I think it’s no secret that I love to sew! Although these days I often don’t get as much time to do any “fun” sewing (All sewing is fun, of course, some is just more fun than others!) as I might like. I FINALLY finished something recently, that I STARTED in the summer of 2021. Frankly, it’s not the longest standing project I’ve worked on, but it definitely took longer than I wanted!

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop (virtually of course!) with the lovely Sandra Johnson, who lead a day of making a quilted jacket. Well, I made it a vest, I didn’t like it. And I didn’t manage to do my homework, so I didn’t spend the day sewing a garment so much as trying to make my fabric!

I improv pieced the base for the back and two side fronts, and then appliqued a bunch of my signature cell shapes on the back!

Eventually I managed to get the base all put together, and then it was time to quilt! I can never manage to keep it simple, so I did a combination of machine matchstick quilting and then the back got some free motion quilting and big stitch hand quilting.

So, sometime last summer, I managed to cut pattern pieces, fit them to myself and get them sewn together. I embroidered a two inch shawl collar, added some cap sleeves, and voila! A finished vest.

I loved making my own fabric, although it was time consuming, and it was great to make a really one-of-a-kind garment (I hate it when I see my clothes on other poeple!). It really re-invigorated me, and I was so inspired to see what others on the workshop made, as well.

What do you do when you want to be inspired? Drop me a line and share one with me!

keeping up creativity and motivation

I do alot of different activities, and when you work for yourself, even when you’re doing art, it’s still work! I really try hard to make time to do art/craft that is not for work, but more just for myself. One of the ways I do that is to participate in the Modern Quilt Guild miniswap every year (I’m a member of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild group).

The MQG runs this miniswap every year to coincide with their yearly convention, which occurs somewhere in the States. You can either swap in person during the convention, or you mail it. There are different kinds of miniquilt swaps, but this one is a direct one-to-one swap, so although I finished the quilt a while ago, I haven’t been able to post anything because my partner hadn’t received it yet.

I like to make a 16” square miniquilt, partly because it means that if I want to, I can back it with a fat quarter! I love this project, I love the challenge of coming up with something that I like to make, but that will tailor with my partner’s likes.

This year’s offering is the latest in a series of SciArt quilts that I have been making.

Full view of the final quilt

I used an improv, strip-pieced background in reasonably low volume black and white prints. I love improv piecing, I can do it with a few rules to keep myself in check, but still allow an element of chance and happenstance! Here, I used about 5 fabrics, and restricted the widths I wanted to use. I appliqued some of my improv immune cell shapes in two bright, solid colours.

Close up of some of the quilting-a mixture of hand quilting/embroidery and free motion quilting (I love carooming around the quilt with my thread!).

And some more views of the quilting!

Overall, it’s a bit of tumbling cells in a blood vessel, with echo quilting along the edges (matchstick quilting), and blood cell free-motion quilting. I like the texture of the mix of applique, free motion and embroidery.

You really get large variation in the quilts that are produced, which is pretty exciting and inspiring. See below for the awesome one I received in return. I’ve participated in alot of these miniquilt swaps, and I have to say, I’ve never received a dud yet!!