Day 19

I was hoping to just trim the excess off of the blue background where the edges didn't match up. However, when I looked at each corner, I saw that I could not simply trim it. What would happen if I did that is to get 4 sloped sides. In other words, the angle was off center, so in order to keep it looking centered, if you measured the width of the blue background from one end to the other, there would be about a 1/2" difference. This would not be terribly noticeable until the red strips and border were attached. Then you would easily be able to see that each of the 4 edges gets larger or smaller from side to side.

To fix this, I saw no other way than to use my favorite tool - the seam ripper! I removed all 4 of the background strips and used my excess material to re-cut new strips. When I did that, I intentionally shaved off 1/2" width on the strips. The reason is that the material I bought is about 42" selvage to selvage, so this would allow me to use one strip (without piecing) for the top and bottom for both these blue strips and the first set of red strips. That way, in case I make another mistake, I should have some extra material to use. Re-cutting and sewing the blue strips to the play side of the quilt took about 1/3 the time it did before, and this time, the edges lined up!! :-)

Once this was done, I took the red fabric and cut 12 1" strips. These will end up being 1/2" wide after being sewn.

Just like I did with the blue strips, I pieced 2 of the red strips together for the long sides, and then, matching up the piecing with the piecing of the blue strips, I sewed the red strips to the blue background.

Then, I ironed the seams down, pulling the material out as I went, so it came out even all the way down.

As you can see, there were a few places where strings from the frayed edges managed to slip through the area I was sewing. They just had to be cut as close to the fabric as possible without (obviously) cutting the fabric.

Once both sides of the red strips were ironed, I cut any excess material from the ends of the strips so that the corners lined up (doing my best to avoid the mistake I made previously), and I cut the corners. To do this on the red strips was more difficult than the blue - probably because the blue are longer. I cut 1/4" seam allowance from both sides, folded the seams through the middle so they lined up, and then put them in the sewing machine to sew them together. This was a lot more difficult than it looked. The first time I tried with the red strips, I noticed that the diagonal line did not match up with the blue line. There were also places I had to remove stitches or add stitches to get them to line up correctly. In this picture, I had to sew twice, because I had to add a few stitches to meet the corner. I couldn't do this the first time, because if I sew to the edge, I cannot back up the stitches or the material bunches up. It just adds another few minutes, but makes a huge difference!

You can see how when it is opened up and flipped over, after ironing it down, the diagonal edge lines up with the diagonal of the blue background. It really wouldn't make a big difference if they line up at the same angle, but for presentation, it looks much cleaner this way!

This is what the red strip looked like when all 4 sides were attached. I still have to sew on the border and the final red strip, but it is getting there, and I'm very happy with the way it is turning out! :-)

The next part was to attach the red strips to the back of the quilt. First, I contemplated reprinting the 13 black pieces to see if I could get them to turn out sharper, and would then redo the black GT. This would probably take 3 days minimum to do, and would require buying more fabric sheets and blue background material. After talking with a few people, and after stepping back and looking at the black GT, it's not that the color is "off", but that the black is just faded. Since I would have to pre-wash the material, even if I was able to print sharper black pieces, the difference would be minimal compared to the time and expense of re-doing that section. Therefore, I decided to leave it as is.

I had already cut out the red strips for this side of the quilt, but before I could use them, I had to match up the 2 sides of the quilt so they were the same size. This sounds easy, but I do not have an area in the house with floor space allowing me to completely lay out the quilt so it is flat. Additionally, I should have measured BEFORE adding the red strips to the other side of the quilt. Oh well. I tried using the ruler to just measure the play side, and what I found out is that from one side to another, the lengths and widths are not the same!! I guess after piecing everything together, and some parts stretching more than others, there was a bit more variance that I would have liked. I just took the closest measurement I could.

Because the sides are so long, I folded the back of the quilt selvage to selvage, pressed the edges down, and laid that over the rotary mat with the ruler on top. Then I could properly measure and cut the quilt.

In the end, when both sides are finished, I will have to add batting (a thin line of stuffing to make the quilt soft and warm), and then sew the edges together. They need to be close, but not perfect.

After this was cut, I repeated the same steps taken above to attach the 6 red strips to the edges of the black GT side of the quilt.

The red really helped brighten up this side of the quilt. The embroidery will be red as well, and seeing the red on there helped to alleviate my worries on how that side of the quilt was going to turn out.