quilting: tips for a simple double gauze quilt
while double gauze makes for an amazing quilt, the idea of piecing it together can make even the most seasoned sewist feel apprehensive. so, I’m excited to be sharing this cozy, easy, simple double gauze quilt with you as well as some tips for making your own. because you NEED a double gauze quilt.
I made this quilt as a gift for my sister and brother-in-law, whose wedding we attended last weekend. and (of course) I decided a mere four days before we had to leave town for said wedding that I needed to make them this quilt, so… could I make it quick while still filled with meaningful touches? challenge accepted.
my inspirations for this quilt were this gorgeous double gauze baby quilt from Jennifer, a friend and customer and amazing quilter, and the work of another super talented quilter, Alexis (who also happens to be my cousin and kindly offered helpful suggestions for the design of this quilt). I decided to go with mostly solids, hoping to piece them in a way that wasn’t super straight lines for a more organic look, and I just jumped in and started cutting.
yardage and fabrics used:
- 1/2 yard each: double gauze solids in baby blue, black, light grey, and blue-grey
- 1/2 yard: framework geese in grey
- 1 yard: double gauze solid in indigo
- 2 yards each: framework broken plaid in charcoal and white flannel
- scrap of double gauze solid in mustard
for the front of the quilt, i just cut the solids in strips varying from 8″ wide to 18″ wide by the width of fabric (WOF) and stitched them until I had the length I wanted (about 64″). I stitched the strips together before even pressing them, using my walking foot to prevent shifting but not worrying too much about stitching in a perfectly straight line.
then I pressed all of my seams with a liberal spray of flatter by soak… that stuff is amazing, particularly with double gauze. it helps to stiffen the fabric just enough so that it doesn’t get all shifty on you and also helps to press the fabric nice and flat. (note that if you wanted to get really precise lines, I would use it before stitching.)
after my quilt top was together, I made my quilt sandwich (here’s a great post on how to do that from Oh, Fransson) with 2 yards of backing fabric, 2 yards of flannel as batting, and then the quilt top. because all of my strips for the front were WOF, I didn’t have to piece anything for the backing or batting! and I love to use flannel as batting for light-weight and super cuddly quilts, plus it’s a great option for when you don’t want to quilt densely as the flannel will hold up well.
once my quilt was pin-basted, I hand-quilted it with a simple running stitch using perle cotton. I used a few different shades of grey and blue for some visual contrast with the double gauze solids. to hold the stitching in place while I was doing the rest of the quilting, I simply tied the threads at both the beginning and end of each line.
before I began working on the binding, I embroidered “Szot <3 2014″ on the back of the quilt, matching the font of the embroidered tag I had sewn for the inside of my sister’s wedding dress, “Mrs. Szot 11.29.14″. and yes, she was previously a Gander, though I swear I didn’t actually put together that I was including geese on the front of the quilt until after it was all done. happy accidents :)
on to the binding… first I squared and cut the top and bottom edges of the quilt and serged them to hold all of the layers in place. but I didn’t want to cut the sides because I would risk my stitching coming loose or undone. so I used a straight-edge and water soluble marker to mark the straight edge along both sides of the quilt.
to ensure that I had a straight line (and to make sure that it was visible over all of the colors), I ran a piece of washi tape along the line where I wanted to trim the quilt sides.
I used the washi tape as a guide line to serge the sides of the quilt. if you don’t have a serger, you could run a zig-zig stitch with your sewing machine along this line before trimming the sides to keep everything in place.
the serged edges of the quilt made it a piece of cake to bind. I machine stitched the binding to the front side of the quilt and then hand-stitched it down on the back. for my binding, I used 2-3/4″ strips of double gauze for an approximately 3/8″ binding. our 8 hour car ride made for perfect hand-sewing binding time, and bonus that I had a cozy quilt on my lap the whole way!
when we got to the hotel, I washed and dried the quilt in the laundry room. (not nerve-wracking at all!!) we stopped at Longwood Gardens, a favorite childhood spot, to take some pictures the day before the wedding.
I love the little pop of mustard in the binding, the way that all of the colors work together, how soft and cozy and crinkly it is…
but most of all, I love my sister and her husband and I am so freaking happy for them. ack, my little sister is married!! I can hardly believe it. love you, Liz <3
happy stitching!
xo, rachael
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