The Quilt

Back in august I started making my quilt. I started slowly, adding new patches as fabrics were found. Old shirts, a worn skirt even ruined pillow cases made it into the finished quilt. 

Each piece was trimmed to waste as little as possible, perfect squares weren't important and to me perfect squares lose that beautiful imperfect feel. I even kept the pockets and button holes on some pieces. Smaller pieces were used to cover holes, worn and stained pieces of fabric. 

I spent a few days exploring how to bind the layers of quilt together. Traditional western methods just didn't appeal. 

I bought a pair of sashiko samplers and sewed. By the time I'd finished my first square I was hooked. It was the perfect way to bind my hand stitched quilt. 

I chose a simple pattern to stitch. Partly because it was a large quilt and would take weeks to finish and because the fabrics on the front were so busy intricate patterns would be lost. 

The simple wave pattern. The backing was an old bedsheet I dyed by hand. 

Fixing the edging in place. This was made from off cuts of the quilt backing. 

The finished quilt. Hand stitched from the patches right through to the binding around the edges.