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Vintage Cross Stitch

  • Quilting

I am blessed to quilt so many amazing tops, but this 50-year-old plus Vintage Cross Stitch is exceptional. There were many challenging aspects of this quilt but all worked out quite well.

 

We will start out with a disclaimer – this top was a project piece that included pre-printed fabrics. One of the elements of this project was hand quilting. The customer did not want to go that route and instead wanted custom quilting. The challenge here was to realize that the blue dots in some areas may never go away. She was ok with that. From a distance, they are also difficult to see unless you are looking for them. They tend to look like an element of the fabric.

Vintage Cross Stitch

Custom Quilting Decisions

The first images I took of this quilt were as it was laying on my long arm. I wish I had taken a picture of the top hanging from my rack. We discussed options for custom quilting, and I offered to send some ideas over. The customer took her quilt home.
 
Because of this, I was first thinking that the inner section was symetrical. It was not.
This first rendition, tho beautiful was with the idea that the center was square. The corners of the cross stitch pattern did not reach out to the corners of the border. We learn to adapt in this business and another pattern was chosen. You will see this later on.
 
Vintage Cross Stitch Top Sketch
Vintage Cross Stitch design 1
The goal with this quilt was to emphasize the gorgeous cross stitch work. In the negative spaces, featherwork would reside.
 
The bottom section had large flowers and lots of negative space. Because this would hang off the bed, we chose to add large, feathers with lots of movement and piano keys. *Note – I use rulers for this section on the machine, but not on my tablet for the digital rendition.
 
In the next section you will see how it all worked out.

Custom Quilting

What makes this quilt so special are two custom elements – cross stitch and custom quilting. I mentioned the inner section and not being square. For this, I chose to do feathers that swirled through the corners.

Vintage Cross Stitch custom feathers close
This is one of my favorite parts of the custom quilting. The next images is of the stipling that accentuated the cross stitching. This took some time but was worth the work.
 
LaFountain Stipple Close 2
LaFountain Stipple Close

I then used blocks and borders that carried the same theme.

Vintage Cross Stitch Piano Key Border

Did I mention that this quilt was over 50 years in the making? It will adorn the maker’s own bed and is loved for many many more.

Final Quilt Stats

Quilt Name: Vintage Cross Stitch
Size: 88 x 98
Quilt Pattern: Custom hand-guided feathers and other motifs
Thread: Linen Glide
 
If you want to see more projects 
  1. Visit the Blog Page on my Website
  2. Join the Facebook group Sewing and Quilting with Robyn.  Here you can not only see what I am up to, but also share your own projects!
 

So, what do you think?

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