Friday, August 2, 2019

Checkerboards and Dresdens: A Finished Flimsy

AKA "The Red Project"

22 months in work. 103" square. 1,869  2" squares.  According to EQ, about 19 yards of fabric used.

240 Dresden blades and 48 snowballed corners.

It weighs a ton! All those seam allowances in the checkerboards sure add up. 36% of the fabric used in them is hidden in the seam allowances. *

It feels really good to have accomplished this. One Dresden and one checkerboard per month for the center, then monthly goals for the borders.

At 103" it's so big it hits the ground from my deck rail. I'm hoping that after quilting and shrinkage it'll finish at 98".

Since I couldn't find suitable border fabric for my original plan, I extended the full width of the checkerboards into the border. I'm glad I did because the quilt doesn't look as heavy, dark, and wintery as my original EQ renderings.

The revised border plan also included a 2" dark blue outer border, but this quilt is already bigger than I need, so I'm opting to omit the final border. I think it's fine without it. There's a lot of seams at the outer edges so I stay-stitched around the outside so none of those seams will start to open up.

I have an appointment to take it to the quilter next weekend. This week I'll prep the backing and de-thread the back side of the top. That'll probably take me all week and it's a tedious job, but it has to be done; there's a lot of threads.


* Seam allowances:
2" finished square is 4 square inches.
Cut patch is 2.5" which is 6.25 square inches.
6.25 minus 4 is 2.25 square inches not visible, used in seam allowances.
2.25 is 36% of 6.25, meaning more than a third of the fabric used is hidden in the seam allowances but definitely contributes to the weight of this top.


Linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict - this is definitely whoop-worthy.

Other link ups:
Wendy's Quilts and More
My Quilt Infatuation
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Em's Scrapbag
Love Laugh Quilt


13 comments:

  1. OMG! This is an amazing HUGE finish! I love it and think that blue border is perfection for the design. It's always surprising for a quilt like this to see the stats. Weight...I can only imagine! I can't wait to see how you get it quilted. It has to feel amazing to have accomplished something of this magnitude! Have a nice week of de-threading...it'll be worth every second!!

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  2. Woo Hoo!!!! So glad you like the change in the border plan. It's just amazing!

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  3. MAGNIFICENT!! Love the way the checkerboard border came to life (and you do not need to add anything more - its wonderful the way it is).

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  4. wow really love it what a labor of love here .

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  5. Whoop worthy indeed! It is fab and yes I bet it does weigh a ton:)

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  6. It is gorgeous!!! You have run the race and finished strong.

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  7. Fantastic. It is gorgeous! Can not wait to see it quilted.

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  8. The Dresdens look like they are sparkling and spinning in all the checkerboards! Whoop, whoop! Fantastic flimsy!

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  9. It’s incredible! Whoop whoop!!!

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  10. That is INCREDIBLE!!!
    The checkerboard border is definitely better than the fabrics that you were considering - the quilt may be heavier because of all the extra seams, but it looks lighter. Well done!

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  11. I love this quilt! I agree that the checkerboard border really lightens the whole thing up.

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  12. WOW!!! Seeing it hanging like that - in all its glory - it is spectacular!!!

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