627handworks

WARNING – Picture heavy post!

For some reason I just had no desire to finish this thing up.  I got this idea in my head that I really wanted to crochet a border for a quilt.  When we were on vacation in Florida the home we stayed in had a beautiful quilt with a crocheted edging, so I just had to make one.

I’ll tell you what, trying to figure it out frustrated me to death.  First I bought an awl, then after playing with scraps realized my fingers would fall off before I punched all the way around a quilt (3 layers, ya know!).  I knew I didn’t want to blanket stitch all the way around. So I kept playing around with scraps and finally came up with something I was happy with, and wasn’t totally time consuming.

Recently I posted my pattern for my Superstar quilt and wanted to try something for the quilting. Following Oh, Fransson’s orange peel tutorial, I found it was relatively easy.  Now, don’t look too closely!  It was definitely a practice but I really like how it turned out.  Off kilter circles and all.

This quilt had a series of firsts for me:

• Coming up with a pattern for the star with a single charm pack
• FMQ the orange peel
• Round quilt corners (just traced a cup and cut!)
• Mitered corners on the border
• Crochet border / binding

The crochet quilt edging definitely did not save time from traditional binding, but I love the look of it and it’s worth the effort.  Although, I’m not sure I’ll try it on a large quilt! 

To make the crochet edging I assembled the quilt a little differently.

• I made a sandwich by stacking batting, backing (pretty side up) and quilt top (pretty side down). Sewed 1/4″ all  the way around leaving a 6″ gap for turning.
• After turning I hand stitched the gap closed.
• Then I stitched 1/4″ all the way around (after finishing, I realize this step can be omitted).
• Then I pulled out my overcast M foot – pretty handy! I don’t really make clothing and such so I’ve never used it. Over-lock stitch all the way around the border.  (This is why the last step was unnecessary) This creates a nice little zig zag with thread overlaying the outer edge. I suggest using  a matching thread.

Now the tricky part.  Pull out a small metal crochet hook (I used 3.25mm) and thin yarn. Red Heart Baby Sheen was a nice size for me, it’s a fine yarn.

Between each overlock stitch there is a thread on the outside of the quilt, on the very edge.  Put your hook between under that thread and single crochet.  At first it seems really strange until you get going. I noticed where the thread makes a “V” on the blanket is directly below where I wanted my crochet hook.  This step takes a little time but you can do it.

After Single Crocheting (sc) all the way around, pick your design!  I chose a simple scallop pattern:  *5 DC, skip a stitch, slip stitch, skip a stitch and repeat from *.  When you get to the end you may have an extra stitch or two but just slip stitch to your beginning DC and tie off.

I just love the texture this created. If you know of a better method for adding a crochet border, let me know!  I did NOT want to blanket stitch all the way around, it just looks kind of messy to me.

Monday, February 18th, 2013, 12:32 pm   |   Crochet, Quilty Stuff  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback