Pages

▼

Monday, January 29, 2024

The Cozy | Middle Layer.Basting.Marking

It was back in November(!) that I joined The Cozy Workshop & Sew Along. I had never seen a quilt quite like the Cozy, and wanted to experience it for myself. I have participated in several sew alongs hosted by Alison Glass in the past (listed at the end of this post), and I always learn something new. 

So when I signed up, I ordered the Amber Cozy Knit Kit, four yards of 100% cotton jersey, which will be used for both the top and backing of my Cozy quilt. Other supplies I ordered included:

Pre-Cut Stencils - Falling Leaves 
Sharpie Twin Tip Marker 
Cozy Needles - Milliners 3 - Set of 25

And then for Christmas, I received a pair of Karen Kay Buckle 6" Micro Tip Scissors, which is also a suggested item. I'll also need #8 perle cotton, which I have on hand, but I have yet to decide what colors I want to use.


Back in November, I also thought I'd use my collection of Carolyn Friedlander fabrics for the quilt's middle layer, but I changed my mind along the way. Instead, my focus fabric ended up being Desert Wilderness by Boccaccini Meadows for FIGO fabrics, a dotted print I've had stashed for several years. I also included Hush Hush Gridlock by Amber Kemp-Gerstel and Forgotten Memories by Minki Kim for Riley Blake; Metallic Pepper Dotted from Collection CF for Robert Kaufman; an unknown Art Gallery black and white print, and finally a couple of strips of a cotton batik, which wasn't in my original layout above, but made it into my final layer, shown below.


It was highly recommended that both the jersey, and the center cotton layer be prewashed before layering. Since I don't routinely prewash my fabrics, I did that after the center layer was pieced. Not ideal. To safeguard the seams, I tucked the center layer into a pillowcase and sewed a long basting stitch across the hem to close it. I did make the center layer oversized to allow for any shrinkage.

Even safely tucked into the pillowcase, there was still some fraying of seams, though not too bad. My biggest concern was that the different fabrics used seemed to shrink at different rates. I think that's what happened, as the whole thing was a little skewed. Once I'd pressed it a few times and trimmed it to size (54" x 70"), I felt ok about it, and went ahead with the basting.

Pin-basting 12" apart is what was suggested, so that's what I did. The Falling Leaves stencil I purchased was one-quarter the size of the anticipated quilt size. I held it in place with pattern weights and a few pins, and interestingly enough, then proceeded to mark the design using a Sharpie, as directed. That was a first!


The stencil had to be moved several times to mark the overall pattern, but sliding the quilt sandwich around on my dining table made it all pretty quick work. Alison assured us that this is a very forgiving project, and I'm trusting that to be so. ;-)



So the prep work is done, and now I wait patiently until Wednesday when the stitching instructions will be released. That's the part I've really been looking forward to!!




Past posts, for reference:


Original Stitch Club November 2020
Mini Series Sew Along November 2022

at

6 comments:

  1. Yvonne from Quilting JetgirlJanuary 29, 2024 at 12:18 PM

    The colors you used for your middle layer look like they are going to play really well with that top fabric. How interesting to mark the stencil with a sharpie!! And I'm glad that the seams didn't fray too badly from the wash. I'm not typically a pre-washer, either, and the differential shrink between types of fabric and fabric manufacturers can be big.

    ReplyDelete
  2. la tulipeJanuary 30, 2024 at 2:00 AM

    Your quilt will be soft. Like you, I'm waiting the next email to continue this project I love. Enjoy the quilting :-) Annie la tulipe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DebbieJanuary 30, 2024 at 8:42 AM

      Yes! I can't wait to have it in my lap stitching! I think I just found you on IG so I can follow along with your Cozy progress too!

      Delete
  3. piecefulwendyJanuary 30, 2024 at 7:08 AM

    Oh, this will be so fun to see as you work on it. Those middle fabrics are lovely, and will really work well with the jersey. I'm not a pre-washer (unless it's a vivid color, like red), so it was interesting to read your experience.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MarlaFebruary 2, 2024 at 1:10 PM

    I'm looking forward to watching your progress on this very interesting project. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. FlourishingPalmsFebruary 4, 2024 at 8:07 AM

    I'm glad you're participating in this along, as it's interesting to see how it works. It's also fascinating to know you don't pre-wash your fabrics, and what happened when you washed your quilt top after it was pieced. I would never have thought to do that, and it's interesting to think about how different fabrics shrink differently. Lesson-learned, no doubt. I am sure you'll have fun stitching around those shapes. Everyone's quilts will be so different! Have a good time with it.

    ReplyDelete