I tried something new: I made a quilt from a kit!
In general, I don’t consider kits very “me.” I enjoy the process of developing a palette and pulling fabric too much to allow a quilt shop to do those steps for me. When I won a Taffy quilt kit in Pure Solids through one of my guild’s monthly raffles, though, it was time to challenge my thinking.
And I was pleasantly surprised. This kit was just what I needed for my May quilt retreat. My in-process projects were not easily picked up and schlepped to Maine for a weekend, so I cut out and organized all the Taffy pieces in advance of the event. After the three days of the retreat, the top was done, as were a few other items from my quilty to-do list.
There’s another selling point for working from a kit on this project. The large throw-size Taffy quilt requires 30 different fabrics in addition to the background. It would have been hard to find this particular spectrum of colors in any one quilt shop, and it would have been nearly impossible to buy the necessary yardage online without ending up with a lot of extra fabric. With the kit, however, I had just enough fabric.
I’m really pleased with how this quilt turned out. The panto—sized to my liking for a less crinkly washed quilt—is subtle and doesn’t detract from the bold design of the quilt top. The binding is a woven fabric that matches one of the mauves in the piecing—it adds texture and interest next to all of those Pure Solids. And the backing, although simple and designed to use up stash, is one of my all-time favorites.
The only decision I would make differently in the future is the batting. The Pure Solids have a fine hand—they’re beautiful, but they’re not a beefy Bella or Kona solid. I think Warm and White would have made that background in Pure Solid Snow shine more brightly than the Hobbs 80/20 does.
I should note that I encountered some issues with the pattern. I found the 6.5"x 8.5" professionally printed booklet that came with the kit difficult to navigate. If you’re considering making your own Taffy quilt, I’d purchase the PDF; perhaps it’s laid out differently.
Also, the plus blocks should be trimmed to 11.5 inches (not 11 inches, as the pattern states). My blocks came out closer to 11.75 inches, so I adjusted all the sashing measurements to accommodate that. Instead of following the pattern’s instructions for the borders, I found it easier to figure out how I wanted the border blocks to line up with the focal blocks and figured out the math on my own.
Despite those points, Taffy is a beautiful design. If you’re an experienced pattern reader and comfortable tweaking things a bit, you’ll be fine.
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I really love how the borders are placed on the quilt. Your time tweaking the pattern to get it to your liking was well worth it!
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely quilt. I understand all of your points of pros and cons in using a kit and have similar relationships with them. ;)
ReplyDeleteLovely finish. I don't use kits very often either. But the few I have were worth the money. I would have had to spend a lot more money for the fabric because the kits had small cuts of lots of fabrics.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool quilt!!! I'm not a kit person, either, but I love how this one came in handy for your retreat!!! And what a fun border, Michelle!!!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, this is a really pretty quilt! Love the pattern and the detail in the borders. I have one or two kits that were given to me but I haven't made them yet. It isn't as creative but they have their place. I sure do like the colors used in this kit tho!
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it work for you! And I think you made good use of greatest advantage of that kit when you prepped it for the retreat. I love some easy and prepared sewing at those events. xo
ReplyDeleteLovely quilt. Like the simple pattern and gradation of colors. I am not a kit person either, although I have bought a couple on sale just to get the wide assortment of fabrics! (Someday I will decide what to do with them.) I find most quilt patterns very difficult to go by unless lots of pictures or sketches. I just don't trust them to be correct. I will draft my own pattern first so I know the math is correct. You made some good points about kits though....great for a retreat. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYes! Getting kits on sale is a great way to build your stash without breaking the bank! And I have some of the same issues with following others patterns. It's one of the reasons why I have a small army of people test my own patterns before I release them out into the world. : )
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