JEMIMA FLENDT
Your daughter had something to do with this
quilt, didn’t she? My older daughter started going
through my Liberty fabrics one day and asked
if I would make a quilt for her. I said for her to
choose patterns and colours that she liked and
that, like most mums, I’d get around to it sooner
or later. She wanted it to fit her bed, so it had to
be single-bed size and, when I was ready to start
on it, we both went through the fabrics she liked
and decided on what we needed to balance it out.
When it was time to choose the binding, I had a
few diff erent fabrics we auditioned but, in the end,
she stated that it was her quilt so she should have
final say over me. Starting to think I’m getting
glimpses into the teenage years ahead!
What inspired this new quilt? I’m absolutely in
love with Liberty Tana Lawn. I love sourcing the
pieces locally and from all over the world, but,mostly, I love actually sewing with it. I wanted
a quilt that would show off the diff erent Liberty
fabrics without cutting them up into tiny pieces.
My daughter had been asking for a quilt made
from Liberty, and so I came up with Liberty Belle
so that she could treasure it for years to come.
How did you choose the colours? I wanted a mix
ofcolours that all worked well and complemented
each other. I only chose fabrics with pink, mint,
yellow and aqua in them to make the colour
choices smaller, as I knew the fabric would do
the talking in this quilt. I played around with
the fabrics I had until I had just the right mix
of colours and pattern, but with quite a bit of
help from my daughter on this project.
How did the pattern combo come about? As
I did not want to cut the Liberty up into tiny
pieces, I spent a while playing with the blocks till
I had the right balance of Liberty and Japanese
cotton/linen. The cotton/linen was chosen to
balance out the Liberty. Liberty fabrics are usually
very pattern heavy, so I wanted to break this up.
The Japanese cotton/linen was just the ticket.
Why did you choose hand quilting for this
project? Hand quilting is perfectly imperfect, and
I love to combine modern and traditional elements
in my quilts. I knew once the pattern design was
chosen, that it was going to be perfect for hand
quilting. The hand quilting was going to give
the traditional element, but in a contemporary
way with the Perle 8 thread I used in colours to
complement the fabrics. I enjoy hand quilting
and, as it was a quilt that I hope my daughter
will treasure for years to come, I’d also thought,
in the back of my mind, it would be a quilt that
she could hand down to her own children in time- like an heirloom quilt.
Did it come out exactly as planned? Some of the
Perle 8 threads were tricky to match up, so that
stumped me for a little while till I could source just
the right colour, but, otherwise, this quilt actually
did come out like I had planned.
Why did you use the Japanese cotton/linen?
Liberty Tana Lawn is such a beautiful fine fabric
that I didn’t want the fabric I used to break it up
with too heavy a look. The drape of the fabric
matched so well with the Lawn. There is actually
textured cross hatching in the Japanese cotton/
linen, which adds another element. It’s the little
details like that that I’m often drawn to in fabrics.
The colour was just perfect against the bright
and playful Liberty fabrics, as it was not too
dark. I love mixing different-textured fabrics.
I think it gives the quilt a contemporary look
and, in this case, an organic feel with the
Japanese cotton/linen.
What size quilts do you like to make? I love
making lap-size quilts. As I often make quilts as
gifts for family and friends, this size means they
can be used in the lounge or on a bed. It’s versatile
and is about as big as I find comfortable when
it comes to machine quilting.
What’s your ultimate quilting ambition? d love I’
to write a book full of wonderful quilts to make.
Now that I can check ‘Homespun contributor’ off
my list of ambitions, a book is my next big goal.
I love sharing with others my passion for quilting
and teaching the techniques and skills behind it.
A girl can dream big, can’t she?
Do you do other crafts? I also love to crochet.
I guess that I’m not good at having idle hands,
as I always have a crochet project on the go and
usually one that I can take with me on car trips
or keep for when I’m having to wait around.
Would you describe your ideal crafting day?
One that means I can work on the fun and creative
projects I still have on my ‘to make’ list. Usually,
these have new techniques in them that I’m keen
to learn and experiment with; they often have
diff erent materials or threads that I may not have
played around with much before but have been
keen to work with. And if there was a piece of
chocolate cake to go with my coff ee, that would be
the ‘icing on the cake’ for my ideal crafting day.Gett ing to know...
on top and ensure it is free from
wrinkles. After pressing the quilt
top, lay it on top of the batting, right
side up, and baste the three layers
together with thread. (If you’re
machine quilting, you can baste
with safety pins instead.)18
Quilt as desired and then
remove the basting. Jemima
hand quilted^11 ⁄ 4 in inside all the block
seams using matching Perlé 8 cotton
and hand quilted three parallel lines
in beige cotton around the border.19
Trim the excess backing fabric
and batting^1 ⁄ 4 in outside the
edge of the quilt.20
Cut the ends of the binding
strips at a 45-degree angle.Join the strips to make one long
length and press the seams open.
Fold the strip in half, wrong sides
together and long edges matching,
and press.21
With raw edges together,
sew the binding to the edge
of the quilt with a^1 ⁄ 4 in seam, mitring
the corners as you go and referring
to the Binding Diagrams on page 46
for details.22
Turn the binding over and
stitch it by hand to the back
of the quilt. Label and date your quilt.For contact details for Jemima Flendt,
of Tied with a Ribbon, turn to Stockists
at the back of the magazine.JEMIMA’S PINNING
TIP Fork pins are fantastic to
have in your sewing kit and are
great to use for this quilt. They’re
invaluable when you are nesting
seams at the intersections, as they
give a solid hold on the two seamed
pieces you’re dealing with.JEMIMA’S THREAD
TIP Use good-quality 100 per
cent cotton machine-sewing thread.
There’s little point using beautiful
and costly fabrics and being let
down by poor-quality thread that
will shred, snap or stretch over time.74 HomespunHSP1511_p068-074_Liberty Belle Project.indd 74 9/22/2014 10:28:26 AM
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