Anyway, I hardly ever follow a pattern when I make a quilt. I just come up with a design and then go for it. My roommate one was a time consuming one, but worth the effort in the end. College professor was a simple square pattern, and cousin quilt also another easy one.
I don't have pictures detailing the process, but when I do another one, I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and to keep Mr. away from all hard drives.
The hardest (not really), part is to get the pictures on the fabric right? Well you could buy this but you only get 5 sheets and it's expensive, so if you want more than 5 pictures, you'll have to buy two packs and that is only going to give you 10 pictures, assuming you don't mess up. So I'm going to tell you how you can make your own so you won't feel guilty about mistakes, because you know there is always a mistake.
I didn't find this link until I started making mine, but this is a really good article. I would also like to say that I have not done this before, I skipped the Bubble Jet products, not knowing they existed until after the fact (kicking myself that I didn't know about it), but will be using this product for my next photo quilt.
So you're going to need the following:
- 100% white or ivory cotton fabric (ask your local fabric shop what the tightest woven fabric for printing on is)
- Bubble Jet Set (here* or here)
- Bubble Jet Rinse (here* or here)
- Inkjet Printer
- Iron
- Freezer Paper
- Sissors
- Pictures (duh)
- Saturate your fabric in Bubble Jet Set according to directions, and let dry (if it's wrinkly, you can iron it when it's dry)**
- While you're waiting for it to dry, set up your pictures, I do it in Word, just so I can arrange them how I want them to maximize my effort (don't forget your 1/4 seam all the way around)
- When the fabric is dry (I find it easiest to do it this way, you can do it however you want, as long as the end result is the same), tear off some of your freezer paper, enough that it's going to cover at least 8.5 x 11 surface. I like to make mine bigger, so I can get two or three out of each go around.
- With the waxy side facing the fabric, and the non-waxy paper facing you, iron the freezer paper to the fabric. I find that it gets a really good hold, and won't start to come apart going through the printer. It will work the other way around, but sometimes the wax just isn't enough and it doesn't stick. Repeat until you have enough for all of your pictures
- How I save on waste, is that if I know only 1 picture is going to be on that particular sheet and is taking up much less space, I'll cut the fabric/freezer paper smaller, not a full 8.5x11. Cut out how many sheets you're going to need.
- Print out pictures, let sit at least 30 minutes
- Peel off freezer paper, gently wash in cold water and Bubble Jet Set Rinse, this will make the pictures permanent and washable.**
- Cut to size for sewing into quilt, pillow, etc.
Now for what I know you guys were waiting for, pictures!
Here's the one I did for my roommate, and the first wedding I was in (sorry, it's a picture of a picture, not the best quality).
This is the quilt I made for my cousin's son, M, on the front is a picture of each month for his first year
On the back, are pictures of her and a kid, him as a kid, a picture of them while she was pregnant, a picture of M as a baby, and then M stats and a "homemade with love, Aunt Sarah"
