Design Wall Monday 11/15/2021

I started a new project late last week, one with a firm deadline which means it should actually get finished! The adults in Ed's family exchange names for Christmas, and I got Amber, his cousin's wife. The cousin was able to get me a batch of ties that belonged to Amber's father who died a few years ago. Those ties will be made into a Dresden Ties pillow. I have made three pillows like this in the past--you can see them HERE, HERE and HERE.

Here are the ties I received. Several of them have large designs, with only a few basic geometric patterns. This should be fun!

The designs on the next two ties are beautiful, but they are too large to work in the wedges for the Dresdens. I might be able to use one for the center circle. Otherwise, maybe a larger patch on the back.

My first step of the process was to wash the ties. This time around, I washed them before taking them apart, using cold water and a gentle cycle. This worked much better than washing them after taking them apart, which leads to lots of frayed edges.

After the washing and taking apart the ties, I cut wedge-shaped pieces of very light weight fusible interfacing. I like to start with the interfacing pieces a little oversized, then trim the wedges to the correct size after fusing. My wedges are being cut at 5", and this is the tool I am using for that.

I didn't plan in advance for which tie wedges would be used, just went ahead and cut multiple wedges from every tie. Then it was time to play with the layout. Here are the two final groupings.

Now it is finally time for some stitching. Each wedge gets folded in half lengthwise and stitched across the wider end. I like to trim the corner next to the fold to make it easier for turning. The wooden tool shown above with the acrylic ruler is helpful for shaping the point. The seam gets pressed open and the point is pressed flat. Here are two wedges, one stitched, the other stitched and pressed. Only 18 more to go for a complete set!

Check out what other quilters are working on this week:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA