First, the uneven edges are trimmed. In theory, there should be 3.25 inches of edging (on the quilt top), with batting and backing at the same width, extending from the line of "ditch quilting" that was around the outside of the T-shirt trim sections. Unfortunately, that was not the case on some of the quilt, and two sides had to be trimmed with a narrower edge.
Using a little ruler to measure for an even edge width.
The ruler has a sliding tab which can be set on the desired measurement;
here, it is set at 2.75 inches, the largest possible width in this area that will include all three layers.
At the corners, a larger see-through ruler with a right-angle corner
is used to make sure the quilt's corners are square. On the top right,
some fabric and batting have been trimmed away already.
Other edges show the unevenness among the layers.
As the edges were being trimmed evenly, a label was made and sewn onto the quilt. There are many ways to make a label; CH needed a quick and durable one. She wanted one that wouldn't be obvious - one that would match the fabric. She chose to use a zig-zag stitch to "print" her initials and the year, on a piece of the swirly fabric.
A "quick and dirty" quilt label. Now the edges will be turned under,
and it will be stitched to the quilt on the back.
The label was placed near a bottom corner of the quilt, on the back.
The final edges are being trimmed away here.
Time to create the pocket that will turn the quilt into a pillow! You may have noticed that one prepared T-shirt section does not appear on the front of the quilt - the one from Beloit College. It is part of this quilt for a very interesting reason. TM (Declan's mother) asked him what college he might be interested in attending. Declan, age seven, said "One with pirates as its mascot!" TM did a little research and found that not many colleges use a pirate theme. But in her desire to have this college-themed quilt be something that Declan could embrace, she found Beloit College - home of the Buccaneers - and ordered a T-shirt from them. Since none of Declan's relatives had attended this college, CH made the decision to put its T-shirt section in a less prominent place. However, the word "BUCCANEERS," from the back of that T-shirt, is very visible on the quilt front. The Beloit T-shirt front will be used to make the pocket for the quillow.
The size of the pocket is determined by the size of the quilt. For width, it should be about one-third the width of the quilt. The height/length should be about one-quarter the length of the quilt. Then a few inches are added each way to allow for the thickness of the folded quilt, and a bit more is added for seams.
Just like the other T-shirt sections, the Beloit T-shirt has colored trim sewn around all sides.
Then borders of swirly blue sashing were added to make a large enough pocket.
This pocket had to be (60/3 =) 20 inches wide and (82/4 =) 20.5 inches tall.
CH aimed for 22 inches square, plus a bit more for seams.
As with the quilt itself, the pocket must have a top, batting, and a back. The back was a square of the blue swirly fabric. These three pieces were stitched together on three sides, then turned inside-out to make a small quilt with one unfinished edge.
Here, the three layers are being stitched together.
The quilt top is face-down on the backing, and the batting is on top of them.
Think of a pillowcase turned inside-out - that's the view you are seeing here.
It's a bit tricky to stitch on top of the batting; it likes to get caught in the sewing machine's foot!
When the "pillowcase" is turned right-side-out, the Beloit T-shirt section has become a little quilt.
Notice the top edge; it hasn't been sewn or trimmed into a tidy line yet.
The next logical step is to quilt this little quilt.
Just like the larger quilt, ditch-stitching and then triangle stitching were used as the quilting techniques.
This little quilt was MUCH easier to maneuver than the real quilt in and around the sewing machine!
The finished Beloit pillow section was then laid out on the larger quilt. The pillow part was placed front-side-down on the back of the quilt, along the bottom edge, at the center. It nearly disappears - the swirly fabric makes it easy to hide!
Without the corner being turned back, you would hardly see the pillow section
laid on the back of the quilt. The unfinished top edge of the pillow has been tidied, and it matches up with the quilt bottom edge. Notice that the Beloit T-shirt will spend most of its life standing on its head (upside-down).
Next, the Beloit mini-quilt was stitched onto the main quilt on three sides - the bottom edge and the two vertical edges. One finished side of the mini-quilt is left unstitched. Two parallel rows of stitching were used here, to make a firm seam that can withstand some stress.
The front of the quilt where the mini-quilt (pillow) has been stitched down in two parallel lines.
The stitching blends right in to the vertical sashing (which looks horizontal here).
The stitching is just above the red and white print fabric.
Yet another spool of Blue Hawaii is used up!
However, now it is Christmas morning, and no fabric stores are open. What to do??
Fortunately, CH had three other spools of thread in a similar blue, in her "stash."
No one will ever be able to tell that it's not all exactly the same color!
The final step is drawing near - applying the binding to the quilt. Some of the swirly blue fabric had been saved out to make the binding. This quilt will have what is called "double binding," which means that that a double layer of fabric will be sewn to the back of the quilt, then wrapped over to the front side and stitched down to cover the trimmed edges. Using a double layer will make the edges more durable - important if this quilt is going to be "loved" a lot! But it uses up more fabric, and takes a little more work to prepare.
The leftover fabric was cut into the longest possible 2.5-inch-wide strips, until enough had been cut to go all the way around the quilt. That is about 60+82+60+82 = 284 inches, plus a bit more for seams and turning corners - nearly 8 yards! Then all these strips had to be sewn together. There is a neat way to do this: you lay two strips at right angles to each other, then stitch them together on the diagonal. When this is trimmed and pressed, you end up with a straight strip - it's almost magic!
Two strips on the left are at right angles to each other, and have been stitched together
from the upper left to the lower right. On the right, you can see the diagonal seam
(just under and parallel to the pen) that results, making a long straight strip.
When all the strips had been sewn together, the entire long strip was folded in half and ironed, making one narrow long strip that is now 1.25 inches wide, but double thickness.
All eight yards of folded strip have been rolled up, to keep it under control.
The binding strip is then stitched onto the quilt from the back, using a quarter-inch seam. (The folded edge of the strip is facing the quilt, and its raw edges match up with the quilt's raw edges.) When a corner is reached, there's a bit of fancy footwork that must be done to make the binding look nice on both the front and the back of the finished quilt. This will be a "mitered corner," that is, there will be a diagonal line in the binding where it turns the corner.
Stitching was stopped a quarter-inch from the corner of the quilt,
the quilt was turned 90 degrees, and the binding was folded up diagonally.
Now the binding is folded straight down,
and stitching begins again a quarter-inch away from the corner.
Now the back of the quilt is finished - but the front has unfinished edges showing. So the binding strip (that was just applied) will be folded over from the back to the front and stitched down, hiding the seam.
Stitching down the binding on the front of the quilt.
The needle is passing through two layers of binding fabric,
two layers of quilt fabric, and the batting.
On the right, you can see stitching where the binding strip was sewn to the quilt back.
This new stitching will cover that up on the front.
Approaching a corner. Pins are used to help the binding create a tidy mitered corner.
Can you see the short diagonal line that starts at the lower-right corner?
That's the "mitered corner."
Finally, all four corners were stitched down, and the last stitch was taken in the quilt!
Here is the sewing machine's last stitch. There is absolutely NO hand-sewing on this quilt,
so the last machine stitch meant the quilt was DONE!
Well, almost done! There were chalk marks, pencil marks,
and "removes with water"-pen marks that needed to be washed away.
Plus, washing the quilt will help fluff up the batting. So - back in the tub!
Here is the finished quilt top.
And here is the finished quilt back. The quilting blends right in.
And you can barely see the pocket on the bottom center of the back.
The quilt could be turned back-side-up for a different look.
The pocket could be a cozy place to tuck one's feet, when the quilt is used right-side up!
Ta-da!