I’m kind of obsessed with mixing cotton and linen on quilt tops (this one, and this one). The texture contrast is amazing, and the linen adds some weight to the quilt. I can’t give you any tips on handling the fabric, because I think I’m doing it wrong. Linen definitely shrinks more than cotton, so some people say to prewash all the fabric before sewing… which I feel like I did on one of my quilts? But then you have to iron the linen. And that takes a very long time. And I’m lazy. This will become a problem later on.
The Fabrics
- Always only Robert Kauffman Essex Linen. I want to buy a bolt of Essex in Ivory just to have for all my projects.
- All quilting cottons are from Sew Jersey (my not-so-local quilt shop)
Buying fabric for a quilt can be entertaining to watch… Usually I do all of it online, so there’s not store manager watching me dart around with 10 bolts in my arms comparing every shade of green. However, online I don’t have the opportunity to compare every shade of green, and my selections are less perfect.
Have I mentioned how much I love moose and foxes? With all the baby boys being born in my friend group, I really try to stay away from gender-specific colorings. I want the quilts to be something they can use for any future children that looks at home in any nursery or on any rocking chair.
The Pattern
I’m pretty sure I found this on pinterest somewhere. If you look at quilts on pinterest, you’ve probably seen it, too, but I can’t find it on my board right now.
This is the little sketch I drew up to check dimensions and coloring patterns. Keeping up with the color and direction of the triangles can be tricky
Then it was time to piece and trim a bunch of HSTs
These all taught me to be a lot more careful with my cutting. Some were too small and I was skimpy with the 1/4″ seam, and that’s where some of my linen-shrinking problems come from.
When I did Emily Dennis’s Heart QAL, she had a really great chain piecing method for these kinds of projects. Wish I knew that back when I was doing this one! But that’s why we keep quilting! Always learning!
Finishing
Of course I did a stripe-y binding, although this was white on beige was the only one at the quilt store. I usually do the black and white stripe, but this worked well, too.
Who doesn’t love a rollup of bias binding!
This was back when I was being lazy and not attaching the binding as carefully. While I’m getting really good at mitered corners on all bindings, when I do the binding in one shot like this, I don’t always catch the back piece. Which sometimes means the backing and batting aren’t completely secure.
I feel like this is even more important with the linen. Because of the shrinking, if the binding doesn’t have enough seam allowance, the linen will pull away from the stitches and can’t be stitched back too easily.
I used a plaid flannel for the backing, and look at that beautiful mitered corner!
Finished! Loved these fabrics, colors, and the design! Learned a lot about quilting, and will probably be making another cotton + linen quilt in the near future…
Have you ever made a complete HST quilt? any tips for speeding up the process? any tips on combining linen and cotton fabrics?
