Zeb the Zebra

I am so excited that this quilt is finally done.  (note-click on the blue highlights to go to websites for more info-links will open in a new window).  I was scheduled to take a collage workshop with one of my guilds in October (to do one like Laura Heine’s collage quilts).  Unfortunately I was not able to make the workshop (and I was having a hard time decided what to do).  I was not looking forward to cutting out a bunch of flowers anyhow.  So I saw this Zebra quilt on Craftsy by Shannon Brinkley and because it was a collage quilt with geometric shapes I thought it might be easier (plus it was a kit so it came with the fabrics so I didn’t have to make those decisions (something that can be hard for me because I have a hard time making up my mind-so many pretty fabrics).  Anyhow the kit was ordered in November and I started the project at The Sewing Escape in December (she has such a big cutting surface to use).  The project came with the paper pattern that I had to tape together.

It was real easy as the papers were all labeled with numbers. The pattern called for putting fusible interfacing together to make it big enough to cover the pattern (60″ by 60″).  But at the workshop they recommended this drapery viole fabric (a sheer fabric) that was 60″ or 72″ wide.  I had the viole from getting ready to do the workshop so I used that.  I taped the pattern to the table and placed the viole over it and traced around the edges of the pieces with a sharpie (sorry I didn’t get a photo of that).

Then I attached the Lite Steam a Seam 2 to all the fabrics for the zebra.  Lite Steam a Seam 2 is wonderful as it is sticky on both sides which makes the fabric repositionable until you decide to permanently fuse it with an iron.  Then I just had to cut up the fabric with a rotary cutter into pieces that were 1″ to 3″ in length and different shapes (see below).

Again The Sewing Escape was a great place to do this project as she had a really large surface that I could use. So I started at the bottom by placing the fabric and overlapping them as I went up the stripes.

Here you can see some of my lines.  So when I was placing the fabrics I just made sure they overlapped themselves and covered all the lines.

Sort of looks like a zebra, right?

Once I was sure of the placement of the fabrics I fused them to the viole.  Then I turned it over and cut all the pieces out on the lines, one by one and placed them on the background fabric.  I had already pieced the background fabric and was able to see the pattern underneath it.  Since I didn’t use the fusible interfacing though I needed a way to attach the viole with the fused fabric onto the background.  Roxanne’s basting glue to the rescue.  Just a few dots on the back and it was glued on.

So now it finally really looked like the picture on the cover of the kit.

Then came the borders.

I spray basted it using a white cotton batting.  Then I used Superior Threads MonoPoly thread to stitch around all the edges of the fabrics and the borders.

After that the quilt sat for a while as I decided what to quilt on it. But I  needed to get it quilted as I had put it in for a quilt show at the end of April. I do so much better when I have a deadline for getting a quilt quilted. So March 11 I got the quilt back out to The Sewing Escape to get some marking on it.  So I had been collecting some ideas from quilts and decided to start with a diagonal grid for the design, which I used a blue erasable marker for.

And then I stitched the grid.

I then used my iPad pro with my iPencil and the Procreate app to test out different ideas for the grid.  Before my iPad, I would use a plexiglass sheet and a dry erase marker on the quilt top itself, but the iPad is so much easier as I can download the picture, and each design is put on a layer that can be saved and hidden so you can look back at it.  With the plexiglass I would have to take  picture of the designs I liked, then look at my pictures.  So here are some designs that I tried and rejected.

Then I decided on the diamond shapes.

After quilting I thought I needed something in the middle diamonds.

And then added wishbones in the middle diamonds.

 

Had my inspector check it after doing a few wishbones. Misty approved it.

After that was done, decided it needed something in the white stripes of the zebra. So again back to the iPad and Procreate to add to his stripes, and head.

For this I used a 100 wt thread in white (Superior Threads Microquilter) for the stripes, whereas for the other areas I had used 40 wt Magnifico from Superior Threads (stainless steel for the diamonds and silver for the wishbones).

Love the texture it gave it without changing the color.

Then I tried out border designs in procreate.

And this is the one I went with. I used my Fine Line arc ruler from Accents in Design.

I used adding machine tape to measure the length and divide it into the right number and size of sections.

Folded it in half, then in half again, then below into thirds.

I measured the middle of those 1/3 sections and added the tick marks to the border so I had guidelines to use with the ruler.

I then made the outlines for the arcs with the ruler and my Tiara II.

Then used my ruler to go around and add the lines for each section.  1/4″ was too small and 1/2″ was too big so they are about 3/8″ apart.

I used a lot of the blue erasable marker that I had been able to take out with a product called Sew Clean.  This product is natural and should be good to leave in the fabric but since I have not used it much and want this quilt to be admired for a long time I wanted to be sure the chemicals were washed out.  So yes, I threw this in the washer (with a couple of color catchers and a prayer), on gentle with some mild soap.  Washing was also needed as it is a wall hanging and I needed to block it before putting the binding on it. I also washed the binding fabric so that if it was ever washed again the binding would not shrink.

After washing I spread it on my 2 tables I use for spray basting outside on my patio.  I used a quilt underneath to absorb some of the moisture and clamps on the backing to help hold the quilt tight.  I have this great 24″ Omnigrip square ruler to help square up the quilt, using t-pins along the side to hold it straight as it dried.

The ribbon you see it the top and bottom photos are to mark places where the fabric raveled a little too much or I missed that particular edge when I did the stitching.  I will fix those once the quilt is dry.

 

I had a couple of tablecloths that I placed over the quilt to protect it from dust and bird dropping while it dried.

I had just enough binding fabric to cut off the selvages.  Boy that was close.  Other than a few scraps that had fusible webbing already on them, I had no more of the binding fabric.  I do almost all of my binding by machine.  So I sew the binding onto the back of the fabric and then fold it over and stitch it on the front side. 

Finally Finished. Me and Zeb, so pleased with how he turned out.  Special thanks to Susan McAllister at The Sewing Escape for all her help, encouragement and support with this project.