Anna’s made a cute Japanese inspired quilt for her friend Nina out of 2 colourways of Mitsi recently. Here’s what Anna had to say about her quilt: “I simply bought a super fluffy grey blanket online and then used the quilt as you go method to make this quilt. It was a present for one of my childhood friends who had a big birthday recently. I chose the Mitsi fabric as Nina loves Japan – I thought the cherry blossom in the Mitsi print would remind her of a place that she loves and has been to several times.”
“Mitsi was designed by Gillian Farr, a member of the Liberty Fabrics studio in the 1950s. It pays homage to Liberty’s historical love for Japanese design motifs, featuring delicate cherry blossom. I planned on using all the colours of Mitsi in the quilt, but when I saw these two, I knew she would love them so decided to alternate between the two colours. They are more muted colours than the ones I’d normally pick for Nina but they seemed to work and I was really pleased with the finished result.”
The Quilt as you Go method of quilting is really easy to master.
- You simply take your first strip of fabric (I’ve used full width of fabric) and place it at the top of your pre-bought blanket (you can also use a backing fabric with wadding but this layer of Liberty on the top with the fluffy blanket on the back was so cosy) wrong sides together. You sew this strip right side facing up along the top edge.
- Take your second strip. Match it right sides together with the bottom edge of the first strip and sew along the seam. Fold down so that the right side of the Liberty fabric is facing upwards. Press.
- Repeat step 2 until you have filled the blanket or have made your quilt to the right size.
- Sew along the bottom edge of the final piece.
- Trim and bind the edges of your quilt.
“We do produce a Mitsi & Mitsi Valeria Jelly Roll so if you did fancy making yours all the colours of the rainbow then this would be the perfect way to buy fabric to make one similar. You’d probably need 2 jelly rolls to make a single quilt as mine was designed as a lap quilt to keep Nina cosy this autumn and winter. We do lots of other Jelly Rolls too if you wanted to use a different Liberty print instead.
Nina loved her quilt. I was so pleased as I love making things for people and wanted her to have something special for the big birthday as well as something useful for the winter ahead.”
