I recently picked the below lovely log cabin blocks up in a secondhand shop, they have been made by the Quilt As You Go method by hand, I was thrilled as I love these colours; they and been in storage for a while and needed to be pressed before I could work on them. While pressing them my iron came un plugged and I did not realise it, well when my iron is cooling down it is not a good idea to use it as the water comes out as water not steam and the water poured on to the corner of the dark area, not to worry I thought and plugged the iron back in and decided to press it dry to my horror when I lifted the square the white cloth under I was pressing on was blue black. This fabric bleed like a pig as the old say goes!!!!!! See below
My lovely pile of 9″ log cabin blocks
Close up of the last strip in the dark that bleed so so much
Yes that dark blue stain is from that last strip Horrors of horrors???
SO I decided to remove the last strip and see how much it would bleed, just that 1 1/2″by 9″ strip turned that dye catcher that dark??????
There was no way I could leave these strips attached as they would bleed in to the rest of the blocks no matter how many dye catches I put in.
I sat and unpick the last two strips from the log cabins one evening. These were after I and washed them twice and pressed them dry. Rather hairy edges now but not to bad.
You can see the first lot of dye catches then the second lot in the second wash!!!!!! At least I will be able to use these wee strips again on these log cabins with out a HUGE dye bleed now.
A very very dark blue black sink of water
All the last two strips removed and ready to be washed.
Pile on the right ready for the first strips to be sewn , middle pile waiting for the first strip to be pinned pile on the left I have to unpick the next two pink strips as well as they are to small to make a 9 1/2″ block. I will unpick the last pink strips and resew them with less than a 1/4″ seam and they will just make a 9 1/2 ” block I hope?????
I think I will start the centre like this but if I twist the blocks I get a dark look instead of the light soft pink look
A very dramatic look instead of a soft feminine look. Which way will I choose????
Have finished quilting all these wee log cabin blocks on the front of this shoulder bag to be????
Up Date 8.48pm Wednesday evening, I have just added the binding to the bag shape.
I cut a 1 1/2 ” bias strip from very colourful cotton fabric for my bias strip and it is pinned ready to sew down here. I stitched it down with a 1/4″ seam.
After sewing the bias strip on I pin the right side so I don’t get any tucks when I roll the bias over to pin to the back of shape.
I have turned the bag shape over and have ironed a 1/4 seam, you can see where I have started to pin the bias down.
A nice neat finish to the bag shape.
This also gives added strength to the bag when I sew the gusset in.
Now to find time to hand stitch it down!!!!
I’m just off to the beach and if I take any photos will added them when I come back.
Update 2.49pm Photo’s taken at the beach this morning, the sea was rough for us; it is usually calm as we live behind a reef.
Sea was very dirty and rough this morning but one lone swimmer braved it.
After I had breakfast the sun was trying to push its way through the clouds.
As I was leaving the beach the sun had finally arrived much to the tourists delight.
Off to link up with Esther now on her WOW or WIP’s.
http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much for dropping in Cheers Glenda
Dear Glenda
Good thing your iron had a mind of its own. It knew something was amiss. Glad you could rescue the fabric, before you had sewn everything up. The dark look is the one to go with, as it gave you so much drama, already? LOL.
Maggie
Thanks for the laugh Maggie I think I will go with the dark centre and call it Drama LOL. Cheers Glenda
Hi Glenda
Love the second setting. looks very rich and give me the impression of something
from New Zealand. Have a good day. Myrna
Hi Myrna, thanks for dropping in. I have not heard that name for a long long time, one of my closest friends at school in NZ was called Myrna, what a long time ago that was LOL. Yes it does look a little like some thing from NZ But I think I will loose that dramatic look when the rest of the pink is added. I have had to unpick a great many more of the blocks as they were all less than 9″ but I’m having fun. I have just done an update to my link I uploaded some photo’s of adding the bias to the wee log cabin bag I’m making. Keep warm in NZ . Glenda
glad you saw the bleed before you started to put the quilt together and finished it!! good luck with it
It’s interesting Karen how many of us are having these very bad bleeds in our fabric, this fabric is not a cheap one either. I have run in to several more problems as more than 1/2 are less than the 9″ they should be so lots more unpicking to get them to 9 1/2 inches. Cheers Glenda
I like the black in the center too. Glad you found the problem before you had the top pieced, that would have been a mess! Your bag is looking so cute, what a great idea with the log cabin blocks. You have a great day.
Hi Gretchen, It will be interesting to see what happens when I add more blocks to the centre 4, I’d like to keep that dramatic look but I think the pink will tone it down a lot. I will have to play around with the placing of them and see what I can come up with. Yes I shudder when I think how easy I could have made them all up then BINGO it would have just ended up in the bin. Hugs from Kuranda
Your iron certainly did you a good turn, can’t believe how dark those strips still look with the amount of dye that came out. The blocks are gorgeous and personally I love the dark center, it is so dramatic – but I think the random matching of the dark strips in the very center would annoy me after a while so think I would end up going the soft pink femine way and add a sashing strip around the set of 4 blocks so that they don’t butt up against each other, thinking as I write a narrow dark sashing strip could be added to the centre just to seperate that fabulous fabric a little. whatever you do it is going to be a gorgeous quilt.
Love your bag, makes me want to experiment as have never made a bage before.
Hugs Jenny
Hi Karen thanks for the tip about adding the dark strip, I was going to join all the blocks by zig zag stitching them together with them butted together then add the strips over the stitching and I would of used the dark fabric then; but now looking at cutting away a good 1/4 of the wadding around each block and sewing the blocks from the front by machine in strips then join them together, much easier and quicker, then I will have to hand stitch the back blocks together by slips stitch. I thinks this will work OK. Glad you like the bag, it is a great practical bag, can carry just a little but will carry a lot if you want to as the gusset is as wide as a mans tie at the bottom so wide. I think I will use synthetic ties this time as I have seen the stress on some of the silk ties on my old bags I have given family and friends. Which is sad as I have a stash of silk ties but no synthetic ones???? Cheers Glenda PS Your Love entwine is looking so so beautiful.