Then I drew a grid showing each shirt and I listed the maximum size that the shirt could be cut to and the minimum size needed for the image on the shirt. Then I looked for patterns or common sizes that might work. I ended up having to switch a couple of shirts around and mount a couple of shirts onto a larger backing fabric but overall it worked out pretty good. Once I had decided on each finished size, I drew a second grid and wrote down the cut size of each shirt. The cut size is just the finished size in the grid above plus 1/4" on all sides. For t-shirt quilts I prefer a 1/2" seam allowance but the baby shirts are just too tiny to leave that much in the seams. Once that was decided, I cut all the shirts using a rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
This is the first quilt I've made with baby clothes but it is not the first quilt I have made with various sized squares. It takes a lot longer to plan these out since the shirts and images are all different sizes. So first I laid out an approximate layout with all the shirts just folded up (shown in a previous post). Then I cut off all the parts I knew I wouldn't be able to use - sleeves, snaps, most collars, etc.
Then I drew a grid showing each shirt and I listed the maximum size that the shirt could be cut to and the minimum size needed for the image on the shirt. Then I looked for patterns or common sizes that might work. I ended up having to switch a couple of shirts around and mount a couple of shirts onto a larger backing fabric but overall it worked out pretty good. Once I had decided on each finished size, I drew a second grid and wrote down the cut size of each shirt. The cut size is just the finished size in the grid above plus 1/4" on all sides. For t-shirt quilts I prefer a 1/2" seam allowance but the baby shirts are just too tiny to leave that much in the seams. Once that was decided, I cut all the shirts using a rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
0 Comments
Last night, we went to Broken Barrel for dinner with Josh, Carolyn, Al & Doreen and then right after we got back Ryan headed to St. Augustine to see his mom for the weekend while I stayed behind to do some sewing. So I had the whole bed to myself - well...I had to share it with KC (the cat) of course but doggy went with Ryan. Then this morning, I woke up around 7am and decided to go back to sleep. Anytime I wake up and decide to go back to sleep, that's the only time that I ever remember dreaming about something. This morning sure was a crazy one! I was out and about doing stuff and somehow I ran into Blake Shelton. We started talking and then before you know it he proposed to me and I said yes. But i was still engaged to Ryan in this dream, so I was wearing two engagement rings. After a few hours (dream time) my common sense prevailed and I realized I had to tell Blake I couldn't marry him because I was in love with Ryan. Blake and I were going to go to dinner with a few other people but on the way there was this other woman there who had known him for a long time and she freaked out and started trying to kill me so she could have Blake to herself. I was trying to tell her that I wasn't going to marry him but she was nuts. I was hiding somewhere from her when I heard a terrible scream - she had decided to just fling herself off the rooftop. So i finally got away and found Blake (who had seen the story on CNN) and he said he understood about Ryan and took me home but told me to keep the ring as a token of his love. LOL. Seriously might be the strangest dream i've ever had! The oddest part to me is that I don't even think Blake shelton is attractive, I didn't hear one of his songs right before bed or anything so I have NO idea where that came from. Hahaha...
Ok i stayed behind in Melbourne because of the massive amount of sewing and quilting I need to do so I better get upstairs and start working on it! While Laurie was here visiting, we made quite a bit of progress - some of which I already wrote about in my post about their visit. But here's an overall update:
1. Bridal Party: I asked all 5 bridesmaids to be in my party and they all accepted, yay! So it will be Ashley H as my Matron of Honor, then Beth, Rachel, Gwen & Amanda. What an awesome group! Ryan has asked his brother Greg to be his best man and he has asked two other friends to be in the wedding party but he still hasn't asked the last two. 2. Bridesmaid dresses: We picked a bridesmaid dress, yay! Actually we picked one a couple of weeks ago and then found out it was discontinued and we couldn't get the sizes we wanted so we had to find another. Here's the one we are getting: http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Satin-Empire-Ball-Gown-with-Illusion-Halter-81441_Bridal-Party-Bridesmaids-Shop-By-Color We will be getting it in the color "Lapis" which is a dark purple - in person it's even a little darker than it shows up on my monitor. After the last quilt order or two, I decided to use the money I earned to upgrade my quilt shipping supplies. I ordered some boxes that are sized appropriately for my quilts, some clear plastic bags to protect the quilts from water damage and ribbon to wrap them up in.
After our awesome 4th of July celebration, our weekend was filled with activities and I was so busy that I even forgot to blog (silly me!). On Thursday, Ryan had to work and my Dad, Laurie and Parker were pretty exhausted from the long day before that they slept in pretty late. After the got up we had some late breakfast and then drove to Florida Tech to check out all the things that had changed on campus since I graduated. There are numerous new buildings and dorms, a new cafeteria and even a pool. It was pretty hot outside so after that we headed back to my house to chill out in the AC and eat a late lunch. After Ryan got home, he and my dad and Parker went for a mountain bike ride with some friends while Laurie and I chatted and made dinner. Of course we ran out of propane in the middle of grilling but fortunately a neighbor was able to help us out and we had some tasty beer-can chicken, macaroni and cheese and rolls.
Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone had a wonderful day and went and saw some awesome fireworks! The morning started off a little bit crazy - Willow cut her paw pretty bad and was bleeding all over the house and the boat, we were trying to bandage her up and clean up the mess, there were people coming over to go out on Ryan's boat, I was trying to clean and get the house ready...Then my dad, stepmom and brother flew in and got here around lunch time. I picked them up, dropped off their luggage at our house and took them to Jersey Mike's for some lunch. When we got back, Ryan was just getting back from boating. The boys decided to go to get some fireworks and a few last minute groceries while Laurie and I stayed home and got ready for people to come over. We had cheese/crackers, veggies/dip, hamburgers, bratwursts and I made a neat flag cake, like it?
I know that some of you may think it's weird...but I can't concentrate when I have a messy workspace. Sometimes I can get away with shoving stuff into drawers and closets to hide the mess so I can get through a project or meet a deadline. But eventually I open that closet or drawer and see the contents spilling out and falling all over each other. Then...I FREAK OUT and go into an organizing mania. Ok I need your guys' help - I want to improve the way things are listed in my shop. Right now, I have an individual listing for each size tshirt quilt with a border and then listings for each size tshirt quilt with border and sashing (see my Etsy shop link on the left to see what I'm talking about). I am thinking about changing it so that I only list the tshirt quilt with border (standard option) in each size and then I have a separate section of the shop called "customizations" or "add-on's" or something that would include things that you could purchase with your standard quilt purchase to make it more unique. The custom item listings would be for things like:
Do you think it would be clear how to purchase a standard quilt and add on sashing and a slip stitched binding? Or should I leave it how I have it now where there are separate listings for each different item? I think it would be easier if you could purchase the add-on's so I wouldn't have to make a custom listing for each person - you would just add each item you want to your cart and then purchase. Let me know what you think would be the most clear way to do it! Some of you may already know this, but I used the money earned on a big quilt sale in November 2011 to hire a graphic designer to create a logo and brand for me. In April of 2012 my logo and brand were completed and I was given a Logo, business card design, quilt label design, and a banner/avatar/reserved listing for my Etsy site. At the time, I didn't have time to work on re-doing the colors and layout of my website to match my new brand so my beautiful new graphics have been just sitting in a folder waiting for me to update. For reference, here is what my blog page looked like before:
|