Dalmatian Pillowcases

My son is a super fan of Disney's 101 and 102  Dalmatians movies – the non-animated versions. 

I bought 5 yards of this fabric many years ago (the copyright on the selvage is 2004) intending to make curtains for his room but, well, never did, and my son has moved out now. Then the colors turned out to be perfect for a Christmas Cars quilt I was making, so I repurposed the fabric. Well, not all of it. Guilt surfaced over the dalmatian curtains that never materialized. I did, however, manage to cut out the backing such that a strip wide enough and long enough remained to make the bodies of two pillowcases instead of curtains. The way the fabric is printed allowed me to cut the longer 41" dimension that wraps around the pillow along the grain. That also meant I only needed 27" of the fabric width for the pillowcases and was able to get it without infringing on the narrow strip remaining needed to widen the quilt backing.

Picking the fabric for the border I tried various reds, blacks, and grays as I had for the Christmas Cars quilt, discussed in my previous post dated 7/21/20.  They were either too dark or so loudly red they competing with the thin delicate red bands on the dog collars. What did I want to focus on? Why, the spots of course! But polka dots, white on black, or black on white did not appeal. I wanted something more funky. Then I remembered this end of bolt fabric in my stash, of which I had 3 ⅜ yards, waiting for a backing of some sort. But really, would you back a quilt with white? So I pilfered a half yard off the yardage. I did give it a second thought suspecting it was cow spots and not dog spots. But I decided to invoke poetic/artistic license and use it anyway. I looked up the difference between canine and bovine spots and found it explained in a post from a Sammy Davis Vintage fashion blog.

... you can confuse the black & white cow print with it’s similar B&W counterpart, the dalmatian pattern. The main difference: A cow pattern has irregular shaped black spots that are various sizes scattered on a white foundation. The dalmatian pattern, on the other hand, are smooth ovals of similar size concentrated tight on a white foundation.

My chosen fabric looks like sort of a hybrid between a cow and a dalmatian. The spots were irregular, but smooth, and spaced a medium distance apart. Perhaps it can be named a "moomatian"? It may not be technically correct but I liked it paired with the dalmatian focus fabric. 

Next up fabric choice was the accent flange. Here I did choose a polka dot, but tiny and black on gray. While networking at Cooking Up Quilts MCM #184, a blogger gave me a tip that I'd like to pass on  – and blog about in a post of my own so I remember. I learned a new way of inserting the accent band from another blogger, which works very nicely and keeps that flange from from flapping around or wrinkling in the wash. In an email response to a comment I made on her blog Bonnie replied:

A friend taught me to cut the flange around 1.25”. Then line it up on the top of the case part, right sides together. Then stitch a 5/8th inch seam. Take it to the ironing board and press the flange up toward the seam. Then finish the pillowcase the normal burrito way. It makes the flange attached rather than flapping. Also, the side seams don’t get quite as big where you sew the flange edges together...or so it seems to me.

I tried the technique, really liked it, and intend to use it on pillowcases in the future. I cut my strip for these Dalmatian pillowcases to finish with a ½" wide accent: cut 2" wide, sew to main body fabric 1" from edge with flange fabric open, fold flange down in half on that seam line, and add border fabric with ½" seam. I think in the future I'd prefer the look of a wider accent and will cut the strip wider. With it fastened down at the top, a wider strip becomes more practical since there is no annoyance of it curling over. See? The top edge of flange is not loose.

Here is the finished pair of cases, shown folded in thirds lengthwise and shown on a bed. Note that I was careful to sew on the borders so the pillowcases are mirror images of each other. When on a bed the borders can drape over each edge while the focus print is right side up.

True, writing this blog took longer than making these pillowcases, but I did make a promise in my blogging to show process and not just product. Moreover I have six accomplishments:

1. Most obviously, I have two pillowcases for my son
2. I alleviated my guilt over repurposing fabric and not making curtains
3. I passed on a tip from Bonnie another blogger for improved flange attachment 
4. I became educated in the different types of fur patterns
5. I had fun writing and photographing for this post
6. I am keeping up social connection by linking up to Main Crush Monday #185 at Cooking Up Quilts

Christmas (in July) Cars Bordering

Six months have passed since I have worked on my Christmas Cars quilt. I got hung up on deciding the borders and finishing and so needed to let it marinate a while. I loved the  main grey fabric with gold thread running through. Each car block is either surrounded on four sides by that special grey or on the sides by yellow and the top/bottom by red. I had used all of the grey up except for a few scraps; that is why, when I wanted to make the quilt wider, I added red pinstripe triangles on the vertical edges. (See post from 12/20/19). But when I stood back to survey my design, my eye kept zooming to those afterthought, glaring red triangles instead of focusing on the diamond shaped car blocks.

I needed to salvage my design. A border that would distract from those six rather large edge triangles might work. A graphic print would do the trick, so I cut a border sashing of black and white irregular Seussian stripes. Normally I take photo of the selvage to record what fabric I used but I forgot. I pieced together my scraps from trimming my bias seams before I found I did have some intact selvage left. You can still read it as Robert Kaufman ©1957 Dr. Suess Enterprises. Then I did find some selvage still intact.

I pieced my outer sashing strips along the diagonal as I was taught, to reduce bulk and make seams less noticeable. But with the stripe it was more noticeable so I cut it apart and seamed it parallel to the stripes. This meant I needed another strip since I lost several inches cutting apart each diagonal joint at each seam. I would show a comparison photo of seams parallel to the stripe but they do not show up!

I did not like the striped sashing butted up next to the grey however. It needed a buffer of sorts. Hmmm. Inserting a ½" wide thin band of red or yellow might do the trick. I added yellow before attaching the sashing on the side edges and added red before attaching it to the top/bottom edges. In keeping with the diamond block theme, the corners called out to be mitered. It had been along time since I had done a mitered border and I remember it took extra fabric. I bordered two long sides and, due to my miscalculation, I had to add more red pinstripe and more black/white stripe to do the two short sides. I wound up cutting off some excess at the corners but not more than I had added in so all was good. The stripes did not match at the corners but I was not expecting them to with a random, uneven stripe.  Overall I liked the effect and I am pleased to I see the mitering did lie flat, which can be tricky to achieve. 

I was going to make a binding out of a crisp black with red dots and fine red lines that went great with the Christmas trees and presents that were black with tiny red dots, carried in the vehicles. But I did not have quite enough to cut the strips so that a dot was centered in the binding. Yes, I could have done a flanged binding and stretched it to be enough, but I thought that was getting a bit too busy around the perimeter to have yet another line and it would have been difficult to change the flange color based on where the binding fell on the quilt edge. Besides, a black binding is a bit too funereal for me. I had a black/white/red mini plaid that I had bought specifically to use with the car panel but it did not appeal to me as the binding. I found a grey swirly dotted print in my stash so I am considering it instead. I also found a red with a grey grunge texture that went well, but I reminded myself I was trying to tone down the red. I auditioned them next to the black/white stripe.

Decisions, decisions. The leading contender is the grey swirls. It also goes well with the backing I am considering. Yes, Dalmatians are not a Christmas theme, but the colors go so well with the car panel colors of white/black/red/grey/cream. Plus, I have 5 yards of it! Hmm... to be continued. Gosh, working without a pattern or a kit takes so much longer. Stay tuned. Linking up with Main Crush Monday #184 at Cooking Up Quilts.

Third Saturday of July 2020

For "Hang Your Quilt Day" this month, my husband Frank and I hung two quilts today meeting the theme "Christmas in July". After putting up the first Simple Gifts quilt in front of the garage door, Frank stepped down from the ladder too abruptly, taking several unintentional, unbalanced steps backwards. Fortunately he plopped his butt on the front hood of my car, which was conveniently parked in front of the garage door, instead of winding up slamming his a** on the hard cement of the driveway. This echoed of him falling off a ladder November of 2017 and breaking his hip, hanging curtains for me. I am declaring no more ladder work!

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I stood on a bench and he helped me hang the second Grinch quilt by the front door. For future use, I just placed an order with Amazon for a stand for hanging quilts or banners. No more pulley systems or ladder risks for us. With age comes wisdom.

Links in my DianeLoves2Quilt blog for these two quilts, which I have deployed before, and a link in my WanderOrPonder blog for Frank's broken hip are

• Grinch 7/2/2014 (DianeLoves2Quilt)
• Simple Gifts 6/10/2015 (DianeLoves2Quilt)
• Frank's broken hip 12/15/16 (WanderOrPonder)

Three Little Kittens

After a big project completion I need a smaller one for instant gratification. I liken this practice to a palette cleanser between courses of a big meal. These three small hand-sized stuffed velvet kittens did the trick after my completion of Fifty Shades of Taupe in my previous post. I bought this kit of a trio of kittens, made in France, from Renaissance Ribbons. The fabric is a heavy duty 100% polyester velvet that is so soft, smooth, and appealing to the touch it reminds me of the silky fur on the tummy of a six-week old puppy. Each kitten comes in its own package™ with a one page instruction card written in French. Luckily the diagrams told me all I needed to know.

Construction is simple. Two sides of the front view of a kitten are sewn right sides together, turned right side out, stuffed, and then whip stitched closed at the base. Because the fabric has a heavy almost rubberized backing and is slippery on the front when the two right sides are against each other, I used Clover Wonder Clips™ to hold the two pieces in place while stitching around the perimeter.

My trusty tools for turning and poking out corners came to my rescue, even for the thick fabric.

The three kittens were given French names: Filou translates to Trickster, Plume means Feather, and Lune is equivalent to  Moon.

My husband has been wanting to get a cat for quite a while so these will need to do in the interim. They feel very much like stroking a real feline. I am sure, though, that he will insist they are far from an adequate substitution for the real thing. I insist they are much, much cuter and less demanding.

Each is the perfect size for a small child's hand. I suspect if a grandchild or two visits, I will be quite willing to have one or more kitten travel home in a suitcase. For now they are decor in my family room since they have such tactile and visual appeal to me.

I confess. I thought I was buying an extra kitten for myself when I actually bought another entire set of three. Maybe I will make them up now or perhaps save them for another between-big-projects break. I do tend to like whimsical pillow type accents in my family room. Linking up now with MCM #183 at Cooking Up Quilts...