A rose window by any other name…

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  It’s happened.  I’ve gone over to the dark side. *whispers* I’ve been …quilting!

Sort of.  But not for a quilt.  Remember my plans for the dress inspired by Lincoln cathedral?  The fabrics have all arrived.  Well, the first batch of stuff I’ve ordered has arrived, I succumbed to some more impulse buying yesterday.  Naughty Fairy.  More of that later.

The main fabrics are black cotton sheeting, and a delicious lightweight stretch cotton sateen in a soft gold colour.  Here’s a reminder of the pics that inspired the fabric choice:  

The idea is for a black skirt, inspired by the rose window, with a bodice and draped overskirt in the soft gold.  There will be copious trimming to echo the ironwork and intricate stonework.  There will be braid, there will be lace.  Look what I just ordered:

In the midst of all this purchasing and planning, I decided I should have a go at this cathedral window quilting lark.  I first saw this many years ago when a friend was working on it as part of an art project.  She was using the traditional unbleached cotton background, but it still looked gorgeous.  I want more drama, hence the black.  I had thought I might use all sorts of different fabrics for the coloured sections, but the first piece to come out of the scrap bag was a fragment of the lovely sari I used in Jackie’s wedding outfit.  PERFECT COLOURS!

And so I had a go.  The tutorial I used is here and it’s pretty straightforward.  The first half dozen squares seemed to take an age [it’s all hand sewn] but I just went back and found I can make three, and sew them to the main piece, in about 45 minutes.  I will probably get a little faster yet.

After sewing on the black squares, you have to put the coloured bits in.  Itsy little 2″ squares, sandwiched into the origami folds, and stitched neatly into place.  Yes, it will take ages, but that’s fine.  I like my hand sewing, it’s very calming.

And the best bit of this type of quilting?  THERE’S NO QUILTING!  No wadding, no acres of thick nonsense to try to stitch neatly, no binding.  It’s all done as soon as it gets to the size you want.  Want a peek?

Here’s another reminder of the dress shapes that are calling to me

And as proof that the mad collar I want to put on it DOES fit into the time period, look at this beauty:

Hang onto your hats, this is going to be EPIC