The Great Corset Challenge – Completed ( quilt reveal )

Hello, lovely quilt loving peeps!

I’m talking about the Great Corset Challenge today (see the other applicants here).  I mentioned I was participating in this challenge earlier this month here.  I really got moving on this quickly, buuuuuut all the hand stitching through me a curve ball, took almost the entire month.

I finished the trimming and binding last night.

It’s all done and she is looking pretty feminine and sexy, I think.  She’s also a little coy if you didn’t notice.  I’ve imagined her as French, you see, what with all the Cherie fabrics she must be.  She wears her lush corset underneath slim fitting, but flowy dresses.  It may make her look sexy and trim, but she hasn’t even noticed.  After a breakfast of pain au croissant and a cafe au lait, she strolls leisurely about town.  Or so, I’ve been day dreaming.

For this challenge, I used the following fabrics:

body of mannequin fabric – this musical note fabric by Tim Holtz

corset fabric – this pink gum stripe by Sara Lawson

background – this fabric was a natural muslin that I hand dyed myself in Robin’s egg blue

backing fabric – Cherie Belles Parissians by Frances Newcombe

binding fabric – Cherie Tree Fleur Sombre by Frances Newcombe

I learned something major with this challenge.  My experiences with hand quilting (which I did all over this quilt) are very limited to just a few projects.  I think I’ve got it down, but it’s just a matter of practicing and growing my skills.  I’m still quite clumsy with it, I’m new.  These skills take time.  However, the thing I learned is to never, EVER, never hand quilt with metallic thread.  I will never make that mistake again.

The thread was too thin.  It kept slipping from the needle.  And to be honest, it didn’t make the noticeable stitches that I wanted.

I used it because I thought metallic “flecks” would be pretty.  Que, sera, sera, I guess.  Lesson learned.

There is something I did learn.  I learned the blanket stitch.  Yes!  And I will tell you that it is the loveliest of all stitches.  Look at that thick embroidery thread in pretty pale pink (you can also see some of my metallic thread hand quilting and note the difference).  I like the french knots as well.

I had some questions in my first post about the order I should attempt putting this together.  I went with pretty much the order I had thought I should.

On the quilt top, I did all the embroidery.  Then I sandwiched the quilt with batting and batting and hand quilted.  After that, I went and added all the trims like the buttons and the laces and the crochet fringe.  Once done with that step, I squared my mini quilt up and binded it.

The fringe.  It is pretty much my favorite part.  Here is one you can purchase similar to mine.

This challenge was fun for me.  I really enjoyed all the sitting still and quietly hand stitching.  There are some prizes that can be won and I’m hoping to snag a mug.  Maybe.  We’ll see.  There are many great entries.  Regardless, I really like my little coy, French chicky on my wall, and if you didn’t notice, she likes pale colors just like me.