Last week I posted photos of the confetti landscape class I took with Sally Manke. By the end of class I was quite pleased with my project. It began with this photo,
a layer of backing fabric, thin cotton batt, confetti, and fabric strips. After three hours it looked like this:
The problem was that class was over and we had to transport this very schnibbly unfinished piece home. I covered it with tulle, per Sally’s instructions, and pinned a lot but I wish I’d pinned more. I also wish I’d listened to the teacher. She advised we bring large cardboard rectangles to enclose it and transport it flat. I cheated and after pinning it well, rolled it around a tube. By the time I unrolled it many of the confetti pieces had migrated to areas where they didn’t belong (sometimes teachers make the worst students – ugh!). So I attempted to lift the tulle and that didn’t work as well as I’d hoped (Mary Alice’s comment last week was correct, but I read it too late). In the end I did enough rearranging to be acceptable.
When I finally got to the quilting process, which holds the confetti in place under the tulle, there were fewer poppies than I’d originally planned, but I was happy enough with my first effort.
Next it was time to square the piece up for binding. I always square my quilts up through all three layers, and then add the binding. In this case I had a new problem. There were oodles of confetti bits waiting to be freed to flutter around my studio when the edge was cut away.
So I took a marker and drew the lines where I wanted the edge of my quilt to be, crossing the lines at the corners.
Then I sewed the binding on along the marked lines, mitering the corners as I went.
Once the binding was on I rotary cut along the marked lines (being very careful not to cut the binding).
The quilt was removed from the excess backing and batt, and taken outside so the schnibbles could be shaken free.
The binding was stitched to the back and my landscape was complete!
It was a good learning piece and I’m looking forward to making more! Especially if I don’t have to transport future pieces prior to quilting. Thanks to Sally for a great class – I highly recommend her classes!
judy says
Wonderful presentation. Nice to work through it with you
Edie Scherr says
I hope you shared your experience with Sally. She will get a kick out of it. Sally Manke will be coming to Bismarck, North Dakota the first weekend in November 2022. (Capital Quilters Quiltfest) Your experience with be very helpful 🤣
Your final product is beautiful!
Lyssa Zwolanek says
That is so amazing! Who ever would have thought. I’m in awe!
Faye Grover says
Awesome thanks. Is it possible to video this technique that I would gladly purchase so I can try this at home? Typical quilter, I have plenty of scraps to use up.
clkquilt says
Hi Faye, This isn’t my technique to share – and I don’t know how any of the great suggestions people are posting would work ~ until I try them. My best suggestion would be to contact Sally Manke at: https://www.sallymanke.com/. She is a great teacher and perhaps your guild could have her teach a class. You could also contact her through her site and ask about possible videos.
Laurie Neubauer says
Chris,
This is such a different concept of making a quilt/wall hanging. Yours is so lovely. Like Faye Grover asked, is there a video of this technique, and can we purchase it?
What did you use for the backing? and could you use fusible batting to press the tiny pieces down once the tulle was laid over the pieces? Could you squirt fabric glue over the plain batting before you sprinkled the fabric pieces on it? That way the tiny fabric pieces would stick to the batting before netting and quilting? Do you have a recommendation for what kind of quilting to do, and what size tulle? I’ve seen very fine netting and larger sized netting. So many questions! Blessings, Laurie N
Cari says
Enjoyed your process and comments….
Deb McGuire says
Your quilt is gorgeous, Chris! I don’t know that I have the patience for this technique myself. Great job!
Jane says
Suggestion for transporting this type of project – I took a landscape class and had lots of loose pieces. Before the class, I bought 2 pieces of foam poster board and cut them 20″ x 24″ (larger than a fat quarter). I covered each board with flannel (pillowcase style & slip stitched to seal ends). When the class was over, I just slipped the project between the two foam boards and secured the corners with 4 lg black clips. I use the flannel boards as mini display walls at retreats and at home. The flannel boards also make great gifts for my quilting friends.
Lori Dickman says
I love it! What a great piece! Thank you for sharing!
Lori