Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Making Waves :: Improv Curves

There isn't anything more humbling or satisfying than watching the waves from a beach.  The pure power of the water, the serene sound of the waves and the warmth of the sand beneath your feet.  It is my happiest place to be on earth.  

However, being land locked in Tennessee and not being able to travel to the beach often I have to make my own paradise through my quilts.  I've made several versions of this quilt throughout the years and absolutely love the process.  So, why did I stop?  Not an easily answered question other than to say there are only so many hours in a day, days in a week and weeks in a year!


CATCHING WAVES
17 1/2" x 19 1/2"
That's not to say it hasn't been on my mind!  The tough part is making myself do it.  Then with many other things, once I start I can't stop and wonder why it took me so damn long!

I was contemplating whether I should quilt some of my finished quilts, clean the house again or do something different.  I choose something different!



The first step was pulling every blue I had on hand.  With these improv curves you need to make sure you have a good length (whatever size your are after), a wide enough width (because you want to make sure you can get good curve action) and a huge variety of shades.  



You don't have to have all the strip widths the same, but a comfortable width for me is 1-3".  Some strips may be thin curves, some will have a gentle curve but wide, and then there are some that are wide and have deep curves.  

One thing about these curves is you cannot be worried about waste!  Oh waste will happen, but you have to look at the big picture.  Trust me when I say I like to use every scrap and hate to waste the tiniest of pieces!  Its a compromise and a dance with the devil!  If you are like me...you'll find a way to use some of the excess waste for another project.  



Which is exactly what I did with my scraps!  After making some of the waves, I had scraps that could easily be used for this mini quilt!  Waste not want not! 



Now is a good time to give a couple stats for this quilt.  The large wall quilt is 17 1/2" x 19 1/2" and features 30 shades of blue.  The mini quilt is 6 1/4" x 5 1/4" and has 13 different shades packed into that small space. 



I'm including a picture of all the seams on the back.  I'd say 99% were pressed open which is something I don't normally do when I work with curves.  This time I thought I'd give it a try.  You might think that by doing that your seams might pucker, but I didn't find that to be true.  I did encounter a slight amount of puckering when I made deeper curves, but I also knew that after quilting it wouldn't be an issue.



As you can see, pucker power nearly eliminated with dense quilting!  Hooray for that!  I like to quilt dense curves on these Wave pieces.  It fits the theme, it's so satisfying and believe it or not...so much fun!  I can't be sure how many different shades of thread I used, but I'm guessing 10+.  I had a few colors that I could only get a few passes from before it ran out.  So what ever you do, don't toss spools of thread when they are nearly empty!!



The texture is amazing!  Beware!  Once you start dense quilting you cannot stop!  That could mean you can't stop because you started or it could mean you can't stop because it's so addicting!  In my case it was addicting, fun and after quilting a large quilt...so satisfying!  



The earlier versions of my wave quilts all received pieced bindings.  Take a look here:  Improv Mini Wall Hangings to see what I mean and to see the different variations that I've done before.  It's a difficult and bulky way of finishing off one of these quilts.  Over the years I've learned a few things and one of those things was a faced binding.  

I learned how to do a faced or knife edge binding from this tutorial: 
Knife Edge Binding by Bloomin' Workshop.

I attempted using this method on a mini curve quilt, Mini Waves, but I didn't think it was very successful.  I learned faced binding for larger quilts and do not do it on mini mini quilts!


MINI MINI WAVES
6 1/4" x 5 1/4"
This time I wasn't taking any chances and went with my usual method for mini mini quilts. 

I'm pretty sure you noticed from this mini mini and the faced quilt that I haven't actually sewn the bindings on yet!  I was so excited to share something different that I ignored the usual protocol of sharing a true finish!  Tonight will be spent happily hand stitching on both of these!  



My plans are to make another using blues/turquoise/aqua/teal for a tropical version very soon.  And...hopefully...I can do a more in depth process/tutorial on how I do it.  I will say that improv curves is something that comes with trial and error.  I taught myself how to do it and how to make it work for me and my skill level.  Something that has been fine tuned throughout the years.  What I can share is my version of curves and hope that it spurs you to try, and is the catalyst to let you discover and learn what works for you!!


LINKING:
PEACOCK PARTY   TGIFF 


23 comments :

  1. I love the faced binding on this! although I will say, I went back and looked at your past ones and I do love their pieced bindings as well. I still think it needs a shark and sailboats...

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    1. I like both methods of binding, but thought I’d try a faced one for a change. When I do the other wave quilt and make a mini from the scraps…I’m going to add a shark and sailboats just for you!

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  2. Beautiful! I'm looking forward to your tutorial. I can see this concept in desert colors like the red rocks of Sedona. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I love the red rocks and years ago I had wanted to try using those colors. Didn’t quite do it, but I thought about it! Tutorials aren’t my strong suit, but I’m really going to try and get it done this time!

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  3. What a lovely Ocean Waves piece--nice work hugs, Julierose...

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  4. These are AWESOME, Jayne! I'm not following your process for the improv curved piecing. If you're cutting your curved strips without templates, how do you get the curves to match up when you piece them together? Do you have another post where you show that? I love, love LOVE your soothing ocean waves.

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    1. I've done it by laying out two pieces with some overlapping and then rotary-cutting the curve in both at once. But I'm looking forward to Jayne's tutorial.

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  5. Be still, my heart. LOVE these curved-pieced wonders SEW much!!

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  6. My first glance at this quilt and I thought, ahhhhhh ... I love water and waves. What a beautiful quilt. The gradation of the blues is just right, and the curves and quilting are spot on. Your little mini is a great idea too! Nice finish, Jayne!

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  7. I miss the ocean the way you do, now living in the Midwest. Thanks for a very helpful tutorial.

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  8. Your quilt (and mini quilt) feel exactly like the ocean, I love them!

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  9. the ocean looks beautiful! Interesting to see how you make those little curved quilts.

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  10. So so good!! This is definitely something I would make myself!

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  11. A visit to your blog is a feast for the eyes - kind of a visual paradise :-)
    Love everything you do and this is no exception.

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  12. 30(!) shades of blue?! That's amazing! I love them both!

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  13. Oh so fun to look at, love the beach theme for this landlocked girl too! I would love to more about your process!

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  14. Hi Jayne! Oh this is a fabulous piece - both of them. In my imagination, it think you are just sewing a random wavy stitch and then trimming the excessive fabric off. But I don't know - I guess I'll have to wait for your tutorial for how to do this. You've had many requests for more details so I'll just add my voice to the others! I have to agree that this could be in many different color palettes. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  15. Beautiful beautiful beautiful . who cares if they are bound.

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  16. This piece is really beautiful. I love the colors -especially the tones of periwinkle.

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  17. This is absolutely gorgeous, and so many blues. That had to be a dedicated effort to find that many. I eagerly await the tropical version.

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  18. LOVE this quilt. It has such a lovely motion.

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  19. A new comment for an old blog. I absolutly adore this quilt. I love the sea, it calms me which is one reason we moved to the Gulf coast of FL. I also used to send days as a child lying on the grass looking at the sky and clouds in the summer. Hence my favorite colors are blue tones. I only pray I can do right by you when I try this *attern. I'm one of "those" who can never leave something alone. I will continue to futz with it until my hubs can't take it anymore. I'll try to send a *ic whenever I com*lete it. My other *roblem is *rocrastination but I have added incentive on the because I love it so. Thanks for sharing!
    quiltylady at gmail dot com. * = the letter between O-Q.

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