Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Silk Quilt is Finished!


This silk quilt is a custom order for Thelma in the UK. I just finished it yesterday and it goes in the mail today.   
We had very good communication via email and that helped make the process easy and enjoyable. This quilt measures 48" long x 30" wide. She plans to hang it over a bed. 


I like using shot silks because they look so brilliant in a spotlight or near a lamp. Shot silks are woven with two different color fibers. One color going north-south, and the other color going east-west. Depending on the direction you use them in a quilt, the color will look different. I put them in both directions, of course.


The three panels are machine pieced, not using foundations. I didn't use a stabilizer either. This is silk dupioni, so it's a little stiff, and has small nubby bits in the weave. You can see them in the middle photo. Cutting the silk with pinking shears (zig-zag cut) helps to avoid fraying, which can be a big problem with silk. I have a pinking blade for my rotary cutter too. Yes, my cutting table has lots of silk fuzz on it! Haha.

The triangles were sewn improvisationally, and the colors were arranged with a minimum of agonizing. This makes for a more exciting quilt than when I ponder it too much. This was fun!



9 comments:

Pinkadot Quilts said...

The colors just glow, very pretty!

Linda said...

Beautiful, your customer is going to be thrilled!

FabricFascination said...

Gorgeous!

Carolyn S. said...

Wow, so incredible and beautiful. I know I'd be thrilled to be getting that!

beth said...

OOoh! It's beautiful!

Nifty Quilts said...

Beautiful! Congratulations. You've inspired me to work with silk someday. I appreciate your tip about the pinked edges. I agree that a minimum of agonizing makes the quilt more dynamic. Bravo!

Tonya Ricucci said...

beautiful quilt. I've got a stash of silks that I've wanted to work with, nice to know that it can really be done without stabilizer. I'm going to go the foundation route though because it's not all dupioni.

jen duncan said...

It's lovely Karen. Love that nubby silk. Hey--I;m visiting my mom and she literally has a hefty bag full of selvages. I want her to sell them in 13 ounces or less packages for cheaper shipping. Can you give me some idea on how she should price them--what prices you've seen them sell for?
thanks! jen duncan

Helen said...

Love, love, love this quilt. Still collecting silk here....