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I am a quilter living in Woodbridge, Suffolk who has made quilts since I was a teenager. I also ring bells! Both are great British traditions....I will try to feature some of my antique Welsh and Durham quilts, the quilts I make myself, my quilting activities and also some of my bellringing achievements. Plus as many photos as I can manage. NB: Double click on the photos to see greater detail, then use back button to return to the main page.













Sunday 18 May 2014

Quilting in a Traditional Frame - Cot Quilt

I had been wanting to try quilting in a traditional British frame for some time....and to that end I bought this small frame from Pauline Adams at Gregynog, two years ago. It is ex Angela Brocklebank, a noted Quilters  Guild member.


I decided to quilt a cot quilt...but first, had to renovate the webbing, as the old webbing was rotted. The nails were difficult to remove, but with a pair of pliers and a twisting motion, I was able to remove most of them.


Then I was able to tack some new upholstery webbing onto the bearers, using new tacks.

I marked the centre of the webbing and also the centre of the backing fabric, then secured the fabric onto the webbing....


Once the backing fabric was secure on both bearers, I could tighten the backing fabric by rolling and inserting dowels to hold the stretchers in place...


I had already marked my top...using a light table and Karismacolour chalk pencil. The design was taken from the Embroidress magazine, a redrafted pattern for a nightdress case. The original was much smaller, and was meant to be completed in backstitch. I thought the Welsh design would be suitable, but had to modify it somewhat...here you can see the top fastened over the backing and wool wadding...the tapes at the side help keep the tension correct...


The frame worked well, however I discovered that I had set the fabric to be too wide at 22", and had to roll in the fabrics so that the width measured 15"....this was more managable.


The cot quilt has worked up quickly, and is now 2/3 completed....I may enter this into the Festival of Quilts, a change from my usual large quilts!

7 comments:

  1. It has become really beautiful, you have very nicely done!

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  2. Beautiful! I love the quilting designs. Great reno on the frame too!

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  3. What an interesting project, have you found this frame easier to use than your normal one? The quilt looks lovely, it has worked up very well. Hope the size is ok for the FoQ since they changed the rules. Is that a glazed cotton you've used?

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  4. Oh, it's so lovely. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Lovely to see how you have prepared this one - and your quilting design is beautiful! Very inspiring - thanks for showing :)

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  6. The fabric is a polished cotton/glazed chintz. Care has to be taken not to scrub or erase anything as it could mar the look......I checked and it can be entered in FOQ, as one dimension is greater than 1 meter....

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  7. Have now learned that there is a limit of only one entry per category...so traditional, I could not enter either quilt in another class...so the Hawaiian quilt will go to the FOQ this year, cot quilt will have to wait, perhaps Harrogate?

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