Maybe that’s a bit dramatic…..perhaps A Cautionary Tale might be better….. Anyway, here goes. I finished this quilt and loved it ( notice, past tense).
I spent a lot of time on the quilting, and while there were some areas I would change, I learned a lot and was pleased with most.
I’ve had this button fabric in my stash and it made a perfect backing, though the quilting doesn’t show at all.
I took the photos above and then I washed it. Ugh. Take a look at this misshapen mess.
I should have known better. I used a Moda crossweave for the alternate blocks. I had forgotten how much this stuff shrinks. The shirting fabrics were obviously prewashed, but the crossweave was not. I also quilted more heavily in the alternate blocks than the shirting blocks.
This lead to uneven shrinkage and lots of distortion. Those seam lines that wave like the sea, were straight before washing. In the photo below you can see how even the edges of the quilt now appear scalloped. And this is one of the better sections, because I quilted this one shirting block more heavily than the rest.
There is no fixing this. Blocking might help a little, but not enough.
I’ve mixed washed and unwashed fabrics many times, but I’ve never had this much disparity in shrinkage.
Thankfully, this quilt had no intended recipient. I won’t forget the lessons learned. And yes, this is a true, first world problem. No tears were shed, I’m moving on.
Have a great day!
KatyQuilts 