Dear Jane gets a new dress :)

Well maybe not a new dress, but new sashing that holds all the center blocks together.    When I first started making my Dear Jane in 2001, I chose a solid beige for the sashing so as "not to detract" from the blocks.  I also chose to sew the sashing onto the right and bottom side of each block, so that when I attached the blocks the sashing would be complete as I thought this would make lining up the blocks easier. 

About half way through the process, I remember thinking that I did not like the sashing, and it really did not look that neat.  I finished the top and packed it away, never finishing the quilt...mainly because I was simply unhappy with my sashing choice and the way I had sewn the blocks to each other.

There was also one block (Row M3) which is the last row in the quilt that I could not get to come out right, so I made my own design.  Sounded good at the time, but really bugged me that I let that block defeat me. 

Soooooo, when I decided to finish the quilt a couple of weeks ago and began working on the triangle border blocks, I got the quilt top out of my hope chest, and still did not like the way it looked.  I decided to rip the quilt blocks apart and add new sashing. For one week I ripped out the old sashing.

I also cut 5" squares of featherweight fusible pellon to put on the back of the blocks to stabilize them and also allow me to cut them to the correct size.  Many were fraying badly and some of the hand stitching had made them fragile. 

And I also made block M3 over to match the pattern.  I will keep my original block for the back of the quilt.

I will hand quilt with the Baptist Fan pattern, but since I will stab stitch, the pellon will not be difficult to stitch through.

And here it is, all put back together again. 

I am so pleased with the sashing I have chosen.  Its still a light beige, but not enough beige to take attention away from the blocks. I also has a tiny flower design of white on beige that I think soften's the look.  I did not know that the original Dear Jane was in a Trip Around the World color layout until I had most of my blocks done and was so sad that I did not make mine that way.  But you know, no way was I going to go back and re-do my blocks.

I also changed the method I used for putting the sashing on.  Picture on the left is the old sashing and on the right is the new sashing.  In many cases with the old sashing the sashing was uneven and the blocks were not in alignment.







I have completed the top border of triangle blocks.  I debated on using the sashing fabric for the alternating solid triangles, but decided to use fabrics from my stash instead, just like the original Dear Jane. An earlier post had the first 8 blocks I had made for this border, and I am showing the closeup of the remaining 5 in this post.    These triangle blocks are a real challenge for me.  I am paper piecing those that can be machine paper pieced and appliqueing all the others.



TR #9



TR #10

TR #11

TR #12

TR #13

Dear Jane Returns

I began my Dear Jane quilt on September 10, 2001, the day before the horrible day September 9/11.  I kept a log for a long time of each block when I finished it and what happened on that day.  Unfortunately I did not keep doing this for all the blocks.  I completed the 4.5" blocks for the quilt center on February 21, 2006 and have not worked on it since then.  Now, 13 years and a few months/days later, I have decided to finish the quilt.  I completed the first triangle block TR1 on Saturday, May 11, 2019.

I am machine paper piecing whenever I can, but on TR7 I had to do reverse applique.  I first tried English Paper Piecing on this one, but that just did not work.  The reverse applique worked fairly well, although points are not as crisp as I get them with paper piecing.   Following are the "kites" I have completed as of today.  Kinda of wonky, but done!