Merry meet all,
Samhain is almost here!! Are you as excited as I am? Join me, dear readers, for a post on how I will make a Halloween blanket! Grab a coffee or pumpkin spice latte and settle in.
I began this halloween project by visiting the fabric store. I was enchanted by the array of halloween print fabrics. The fabrics were on sale so I got everything I needed. I bought threads, a zipper, and black, grey, orange and black fabric with red streaks. I was grateful that the staff was so helpful in determining the amount of fabric that I would need. I do believe I bought too much, but it is better to have more than less. The black fabric with red streaks is for a frame over the patchwork squares.
I washed the fabric by hand with vinegar and laundry detergent, then I dried them on the line or in the dryer. I do not want to go to all this work only to have my fabric warp or go wonky. The fabrics have formaldehyde in them for shelf life, so I had to wash them It makes them much easier to deal with. It is a good idea to always wash your fabric, but then it does all need to be ironed again afterwards.
I measured three inches wide and measured the necessary length for each of the three inch wide strips- forty-two inches in total. I have to sew that together, then once all the patches are done, sew the strips to the squares. (Argh stop the madness!) The quilt will be bound (like bias tape) in solid black fabric. I have two strips of orange fabric with a skull print. One will be sewn onto the top of the quilt on the top side showing and the other will be sewn onto the bottom of the patchwork squares on the top side showing. It will all look amazing.
I had to measure and calculate a lot. I hope I have enough brown fabric, that is the bottom side of the blanket. It has to match to the top side of the blanket. Originally, I planned to have six patchwork squares in a row. Now I have extended that to eight. There are nine rows of squares in a grey, orange, black, bright orange, grey or beige square pattern. I cut out about slightly over seventy-two squares. I did not intend to cut out that many, but when I arranged all the patchwork squares in rows and saw how it could all come together, I changed my mind several times. I had to cut out specific patchwork squares- mostly the black and orange. I have a black fabric with a spider and spiderweb print. I had two orange spider and spiderweb prints, but one was more matte and the other bright. I rearranged and rearranged until I thought I had it all planned. My cat laid down on the squares and messed them up. Argh!
I kept changing my mind. Once it is all sewn together, it is permanent. I wanted to be certain. The layout in the photo is not the layout that I decided on. I wanted to share the photo so you would all know what I was talking about. It is a good idea to keep the cat out of the room (not to be cruel, but Penny messed up my squares, sweep and mop the floor to get to layout the squares). Once you sew, it is done.
I sew the first row together, then I sew the second row and so on and so on till I get to the last row. Then I sew them all together. I plan to sew with a quarter inch stitch- the skinny stitch. (I can’t recall right now, my brain is addled.) There is more orange and black in the layout. To save my sanity, I used a black marker and painter’s tape to keep the rows organized. You can see the small pieces of the painter’s tape in the photo above, I wrote row 1 on the tape and stuck that to the squares. I did the same with the rest of them till I got to the ninth row. They are all organized that way. I have to mind that the squares have a decorative print and that all the squares prints face up the right way. They all have to be the same size.
I bought a meter of this cool black print Halloween fabric. The squares were all about nine inch by nine inches. I cut them out very carefully and I arranged them over my patch squares. I kept moving them over the squares till I decided I was happy with the layout. The blanket will be amazing! I want to get filler from the fabric store. Then once the patches are all sewn together and the bottom of the blanket (the brown fabric) is sewn to the top of the blanket, I add the filler. Hopefully it will not be too expensive.
I saved the black strips between the nine inch larger black crow or skull squares. I might sew on the strips of the black fabric over (between) the patchwork squares. I don’t have enough for the whole patchwork top, so we will see how it goes. Or maybe I will be brave and sew the strips on diagonally! We will see.
I chose somber colors for this blanket. To me, Samhain is a time of festive joy and is somber at the same time. The colours are an earthy, muted brown, a cool matte black spiderweb print, a matte orange spiderweb print, a brighter orange spiderweb print, a grey + beige print material covered with crows and punpkins, and a grey +beige snowflake and pentagram fabric. The last fabric was so witchy I just had to buy it. I am happy with the layout and the arrangement of the patchwork squares and the colours. It all just blends together so well.
I will alter my dress from Killstar and my green dress from HolyClothing. The hems are too long. I live in Nova Scotia, which means that anything with a long hem will sweep leaves off the sidewalks or collect dirt, mud or leaves. Then I have to hem them again. Best to do it now. I am not totally happy with it, but it pays off to alter a hem as it guarantees the fabric will last much longer.
I will save the fabric that I trim off for the hemming. The patchwork blanket will be a ton of work, but it will be worth it. I sewed all the squares together. There were eight patchwork squares in rows and a total of nine rows of patchwork squares = 79 squares in total. The squares are sewn together and shown in the photo below. I can’t change my mind now on the order of the squares, but I can change my mind on the rows and which order they should be in.
The rows of patchwork squares sewn together.
The last two days I worked hard on the patchwork quilt. I had to see the forest for the trees. In other words, no matter how many times I laid the whole quilt in rows on the floor. I could not see then that some patches were repeated. I had to make new patches and sew them in several times. It is always right sides together when you are sewing and that is easier said than done. Now all the squares are different save for two, but it does not matter. All the patches squares are sewn and all the rows are sewn together. Then once that was finally completed, I started on the frame with the black and red streak quilting fabric. I measured how much I would need by lining the strips of the fabric along the width and length of the material. I cut the strips to the width and length I wanted. The quilt is about 58′ x 64′. Then I pressed and turned over a long edge about a quarter inch to avoid fraying. I stitched that down and then pinned the strips with the turned under edge on the outside. When I sew the top of the quilt to the bottom side, the rough edge will be caught in the fabric and won’t show a raw edge. That also helps me avoid fraying. So I have to sew down both sides of the material. I am nitpicky about the fabric ends meeting evenly and avoiding raw edges showing.
Once that is completed, I can finally sew the brown fabric together and then sew the quilt top to the brown fabric. Then I will insert the nice cotton filler and then line it all up and to make sure it does not bunch up, I will sew the quit filler in. Then I plan to add a black edge binding. It will look amazing! The more effort you put in and caring about all the tiny details, the better your work looks. I added two strips of the orange fabric with a white skul print to the top of the (top of quilt) and a strip on the bottom. If you look closely at the above photo, you can see them. I have to make sure the seams are finished. I always pin and press and line up my edges. The tiniest things, no matter how mundane or boring they seem.,matter and the more care you take, the more beautiful the final effort will be. Sewing has tons of repetition, pin and press and sew over and over again, but that is the way it is. I want my quilt to last a long time and keep me warm on cold nights. Paying attention to the details now guarantees that will happen.
Next, I can sew the brown fabric and once I sew in the spider, check all my seams, sew on the black frame fabric, and sew the brown bottom fabric to the top quilt fabric, then I can finally insert the filler. I have to leave a hole large enough for the filler to go in between the two fabrics then sew the hole closed. Then I am done! I just want to take all the care I can now so that I am truly happy with it.
Today I made the small repairs, sewed the spider onto the front of the quilt and added the filler. I trimmed the excess and sewed the front, filler and the back of the quilt together. I bought bias tape from the fabric store but it was the wrong color. I am so excited to sew the bias tape onto the blanket but I have to be patient. It has been a lot of work so far.
In other news, I sent my BFF Onyx a herbal tea blend. I hope it arrives soon. I bought a cool black blouse online from Killstar, a few candles from Horrified Candles and a wand. However, Canada Post is on strike again. It may be a while before I receive my parcels. I received my Horrified Candles! Very happy about that.
I bought a new witch hat. My black wool witch hat paired with a black top or cardigan (to keep me warm), and my purple astrology boots should keep me stylin’. Yeah We all love October. The most magickal time of the year.
I would love to hear what projects, crafts or rituals you all are conjuring this month, Please leave a comment and tell me all about it.
I want to add that this is my 999th post. The next blog post will be the thousandth post!!!!!! I have learned a lot about maintaining a blog, made mistakes, survived the disaster of my old blog site being hacked. I am still here and typing- and kicking! It makes me so happy to have achieved this milestone. I could not have done this without all the wonderful support from my awesome friends and readers. I love you all. I am very happy to have come this far. I have to party when I write the thousandth post! I have a lot of reasons to party this October. !!! )O(
Blessings, Spiderwitch
