Sew in Love {with Fabric}: bargello

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Technique Tuesday: Piecing a Perfect Bargello

Hi! Ann Lauer here for a Technique Tuesday post using my new Cat-I-Tude fabric collection.

I love to make bargello quilts. They have so much movement in the design, and on top of that, they're fun to piece. Today I'm going to show you the technique I use to assemble this type of quilt. It make assembly easier and more accurate.

"Dinner in Style" bargello placemat pattern

When I make bargello quilts, I like to use Creative Grid Flannel in my quilt sandwich. This 2" cotton grid fabric has “surface tension” built in to keep your pre-cut fabric pieces in place when doing your quilt layouts. In our case, we'll be layering batting over it, and it will hold the batting in place. The grid lines help to ensure that the strips are laid straight and that the stitch lines are straight as well.

Here's how I do it, using my Dinner in Style placemat set pattern as an example:

Step 1: Choose your backing fabric. I chose Aristocats on black. This is a nice backing fabric because the placemats can even be turned over with this fun fabric on the back.

Step 2: Position the backing fabric right side down, Creative Grid Flannel wrong side up and the batting on top. I prefer to use a thin batting such as Hobbs Thermore, which is bonded on both sides so it's easy to sew on. I like the combined weight of flannel and the thin Hobbs Thermore batting in table top projects. Note: The lines on the flannel are dark and you don’t want them to show through the lightest fabric that you are using. Therefore, I layer it wrong side up and place it under the batting. You can see the lines through the batting well enough to keep the segments straight as you sew. There are other grid products available and if you use one that isn’t printed too darkly, you may want to layer it on top of the batting.

Notice how you can see the lines showing through batting when you layer the batting piece on top of the Creative Grid Flannel.

Step 3: Following your quilt pattern, cut your fabric strips and sew into a tube. Press all your seams in one direction.

Step 4: Use the grid to lay the first segment along a left hand vertical line and the top of the segment along a top horizontal line. Follow the instructions and as you stitch each segment, open it up and check to be sure that the cut edge is staying parallel to a vertical grid line and that the seams within the segments are staying parallel with the horizontal grid lines. Directions are included in my pattern on how to correct any areas that begin to bow. By using this technique, all of the stitching will be straight and the bargello will be stabilized which will make it easy to fuse the cats onto the placemats.

Step 5: Here's a view of the first five segments laid on the backing/grid/batting sandwich. These strips are tubes that have been opened on the designated seam so they lay flat.

Step 6: When all the strips have been stitched in place, you will have made one large quilt-as-you-go section that you will cut into fourths to yield four placemats. Each placemat will be somewhat different, but they all go together beautifully.

Here is what the finished and bound placemats look like, complete with fussy-cut cat appliques:

Click here to see Ann's entire Cat-I-Tude fabric collection.
Missed our original post with Ann's interview about Cat-I-Tude? Click here to find it.
Click here to find the Dinner in Style kit and pattern.
Click here to find Creative Grid Flannel.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Anything Goes!

Ann Lauer says that her newest collection, Anything Goes, is reminiscent of a grown-up coloring book. The black and white prints are so much fun, but then you see the red, lime and blue and realize that the name is true--Anything Goes! We asked Ann to tell us about these playful prints.

A sampling of Anything Goes prints, fresh off the bolt!

Tell us about Anything Goes.

I may just love it the best! I love black and white; I think they are classy and timeless. The black and white prints are designed to go from light to dark with smooth transitions in scale and value. And adding color just makes it fun. Where the color is added, it’s watercolor. Instead of stamping the color, they’re blended and shaded, which adds depth.

We’re not surprised the line includes a stripe!

The stripe was planned out to have four repeats across the width, so it can be used for a quilt border with minimal waste, whether you choose the flower section or the stripe, or both. It’s also great fun to fussy-cut, and to use a quarter square ruler on, like in the Squares By Golly free download pattern.

Tell us about some of your other favorites.

I’m crazy about the big print. The flower centers are the same motif of the Playful Discs print. I love the way the shards of color are in the black and white leaves. Those same shards show up in a few different prints. And the background in this big print—there’s a ton of action—squares and circles in two sizes. You can cut the big print anywhere and create something wonderful.

We reused the squares and dots from Poppy Panache because they were so popular, but we added in new colors. I think the multi squares is a terrific blender. It adds just a touch of color—it’s pretty on its own, in blocks, or in borders. It brings so many colors together.

Playful discs is my favorite among the black and white prints.

What makes this line so unique?

The black and white prints flow so smoothly, and you can add in bright color to make it playful. You can add tons to make it wild and crazy, or you can just choose one accent color--either lime, red, or blue--to work with, which I think makes the collection seem bigger, with more options.