So . . . I had this idea to quilt these baby quilts with some vintage linen thread I found at the Goodwill. The thread is heavy-ish — a bit thicker than perle cotton, and it has a nice sheen to it that looks nice against the chintz. However, actually stitching with it was a real challenge. The fabrics in this quilt are thicker than normal quilting cottons, and I had to use pliers to get that fat needle and thick thread through the glazed decorator fabrics. Also there was no way to pull a knot through the fabric, so all ends had to be woven in and out of the seams.
My quilting stitches are pretty big — not really what I’d call “big stitch,” but larger than my normal quilting. The squares are quilted with straight lines (no stitching through those thick intersections), the pink border has a zig-zag, and the chintz border has overlapping half circles. On the second quilt, I’m plan to reverse this, with curved quilting in the squares and straight lines in the border.
The back is half of a large pale pink damask tablecloth, which turned out to be a pretty great idea. The damask design is pretty, the fabric is soft, and it would be very easy to needle if you weren’t using crazy glazed decorator fabric to make your quilt.
Update: Both chintz quilts are done and can be viewed here.
Chintz Baby Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2014
machine pieced, hand quilted
37″ x 45″
So beautiful and your hand quilting is stunning! xo Heather
What a lovely quilt – your stitches look so even! 🙂
Looks good tho. Remember, no pain, no gain!
Stunning finish to this quilt! oh so pretty..I love chintz–hard to find and I guess, from what you say, hard to needle tho’. Hugs, Julierose
Such a fancy and feminine quilt. Your quilting is beautiful.
Beautiful quilt! I love the fabrics you have chosen- so sweet and old-fashioned. Your hand quilting is exquisite.
-Sarah
Beautiful, Martha! So sweet and feminine.
Such a lovely baby quilt! The fabric may have been difficult to work with, but I would say it was worth it, the results are absolutely beautiful!
Love this look! I am working on a quilt with cogwheel blocks and compass block as the center medallion. I plan on using some chintz that I selvedge from some curtains. I haven’t had much time to work on it as of late too many other focuses right now, but seeing this puts me in the mood to work on it.
Okay it’s official: You are such a great quilter that you can make plier driven quilting look professional. WOW! I mean JUST WOW!!! This quilt is just stunning!!! It looks fantastic!
I love the idea of using the damask as a backing, can you show us a photo of how that turned out?
PS, love the snow white transfers too! They are great!
Hugs,
Mickie
You are a dedicated hand-quilter, bringing out the pliers! I think your stitches are lovey and so even. These quilts are beautiful and charming.
Very, very pretty!