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Friday, 26 March 2021

Progress on Raindrops are Falling on My Head

My hand pieced Raindrops quilt is coming along nicely. I've been experimenting with other fabric combinations because I don't want all of the blocks to be the feature fabric.  

I'm not sure if all of these rosettes will make it into the final quilt, but I need to see all the options before I start joining the blocks.  


The plainer blocks are good because they give our eyes a resting place.  However, I can see that the dark green in the centre rosette might be too dark. 


Last week someone asked me how I calculate how much fabric to buy for a quilt like this.  There are few factors that come into that decision:

- how big do I want the quilt to be?

- how many rosettes will I need to make it the desired size?

- how many pieces can I fussy cut from each motif in the fabric?

- how many motif repeats are there per metre or yard? 

Originally I only had about 1 metre of this fabric.  I bought it in Sydney two years ago, not knowing what I would do with it, but it looked exciting and full of possibilities.  

When I decided to use it for Raindrops are Falling on My Head, I went in search of more, and was lucky to find two more metres online.  However, now that I'm adding plainer blocks to this quilt, I don't know if I'll need the full 3 metres.  I guess I could use it in a border, or even on the back if I end up with leftovers. 



The motif on this fabric is large so I can cut a number of different pieces from it, but I will need 8 repeats of each motif to complete a full rosette for the quilt, unless the flower at the other end is identical. I'm getting seven different pieces out of each motif, and could possibly get nine.



I draw the cutting and stitching lines on the back, not the front.



Here's now the pieces might look in the quilt:



I'm not sure if that explanation helped or just confused you! But, the answer is that the quantity of fabric required depends on a number of variables.  


Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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11 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 March 2021 at 20:14

    Love the fabric, colors, and design. Raindrops is going to be beautiful!

    Michelle
    https://mybijoulifeonline.com

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  2. Anorina @SameliasMum26 March 2021 at 22:22

    I love how you’re able to take beautiful fabric and make it even more beautiful 😻

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  3. Gretchen Weaver27 March 2021 at 00:16

    Beautiful rosettes, happy stitching!

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  4. Karen - Quilts...etc.27 March 2021 at 02:41

    interesting to see how you do this and nice you can draw on the back of the fabric

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  5. FlourishingPalms27 March 2021 at 03:54

    I'm always of the mind that when I'm in doubt about the quantity of fabric to buy, more is preferable to less. As you said, excess can be used on the back, and that's precisely what I like to do with ANY leftovers from the front - make a piece backing to use up extra blocks and yardage. It's interesting to see how you go about fussy cutting. As I am seldom drawn to the types of novelty and floral prints that are conducive to fussy-cutting, I don't much occasion to use this technique. It's good that you're including spaces for your eyes to rest because it makes for nice contrast.

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  6. PaintedThread27 March 2021 at 04:06

    Wow - love those colors! This will look awesome all together.

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  7. Genevieve Gerrard27 March 2021 at 04:15

    Gorgeous rosettes! And great to see your process.

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  8. Sherrie27 March 2021 at 04:23

    Hi,
    Your quilt is awesome...so pretty
    and colorful. Have a great day!

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  9. Gemini Jen NZ27 March 2021 at 06:29

    Great tip regarding having some solids to help the eyes rest - it would certainly be a very busy quilt without that (though I agree the dark green is too dark). What marker do you use? I haven't yet found one I'm happy with...yours looks better than anything else I've tried so far.

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  10. Melisa- pinkernpunkinquilting 27 March 2021 at 17:11

    Your quilt is looking amazing and love the fabrics you are using. I look forward to seeing it progress and thank you so much for hosting the link party.

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  11. Andree G. Faubert29 March 2021 at 08:31

    Hi Wendy, your work is truly wonderful - all that attention to detail. Thanks for hosting the linking party. It's always great to see your work and what everyone is doing. Take care.

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