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I'm Liberty from Libby Dibby Quilts. I recently was given the opportunity to work with Embrace® Double Gauze by Shannon Fabrics. I'd never worked with double gauze before and decided that their line - especially the colors that Shannon had available - were just so yummy, that I had to try them. As soon as I was looking at their color line, this design idea popped into my head. I hadn't ever seen a quilt made from double gauze that had been pieced of tiny little pieces, but that didn't stop me from trying to execute my idea. I'm so glad that I went for it!
Making this quilt was all about relaxing - relaxing my ideas, my straight lines, my quilting - and oh man, it was so delicious to work with...
(I used wool batting to line it and then hand quilted it, so it felt like quilting a cloud) - I am glad I did. The honest truth is that it took me forever to hand quilt it - not because it was hard to quilt - actually it was the nicest project I've ever had to hand quilt - but because EVERY time I went to quilt it, I actually would fall asleep under the quilt - pins and all. Not kidding.
here's what I used:
for the background Solid Embrace Snow
I used scraps of
Solid Embrace Aruba (I used this for the binding too)
for the backing, I used Solid Embrace Silver
Here are the things I would tell you that I learned about sewing with double gauze.
1- Relax your design. This is not the fabric to make your precise straight lined piecing with. I used a ton of starch and even still, the bits and pieces shifted as I worked with them. I decided early on that this was okay and that I was going to love this rather than resent it.
2- Double gauze unravels easily, so expect a little shedding and use larger seam allowances - to be careful, I used 1/2" instead of the usual 1/4" seam allowances.
3 - This double gauze doesn't shrink. Trust me, I made a doll sized quilt to begin with as a tester and did a test run with hot water and the dryer to see how it behaved - it came out looking lovely and still as airy... I hadn't expected that. Also, it didn't fade at all.
4 - Double gauze loves wool. (I'm just sayin' - you'll love it) I'd heard it from other quilters, but when you feel a quilt that has double gauze on both sides and then has wool batting... oh my. It really is like cuddling a cloud.
5 - When it comes time to bind.... I made an extra wide binding, so that I could be sure again of no unraveling. Also - I contacted Rachel at Imagine Gnats, who has a lot of experience with double gauze and also my friends (Lauren, Lisa and Victoria) at Sew Modern (my LQS) and they all told me that serging the edges of the quilt all the way around would help with the binding process. The edges of this quilt got a little PUFFY before doing that. Then I took the Sew Modern gal crew's advice and re-serged the edges once I had the binding attached and it was all clean and tidy as I went around doing the hand finishing. That made even the binding not a problem.
When I was originally designing and sewing this quilt, I wasn't sure who it was for. But my family has made it clear that this quilt is NOT LEAVING THIS HOUSE. Fine with me. I love it, too.
If you would like to make a similar quilt to this one - with double gauze or not - you can find it as the Daydream Drifter Quilt in my craftsy shop. It's a free pattern. You can also find more pics of my process under my Instagram account - @libbydibby or under the hashtag #daydreamdrifterquilt
oh, and if you are wondering where to find double gauze, you can find Shannon Fabrics at local quilt shops and fabric stores or check out their Store Locator
By the way, this is my first guest post on Shannon Fabrics Blog! Follow me- Liberty Worth of Libby Dibby Quilts. IG: @libbydibby. blog: www.libbydibbystuff.blogspot.com
-Libby
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