Kay and Pat came over for a mini sleepover retreat while Steve was away. It was a lot of fun! Kay and I purchased the Bargello Christmas Tree Skirt Kit from ShabbyFabrics. We decided we wanted to sew the skirts now rather than put it off when life might be busier. Since Steve was going to be away, we jumped at the chance to sew the project alongside one another. Pat joined us using her own stashed fabrics. All she needed to buy was the special batting for the project which she got from a quilt shop she frequents.
ShabbyFabrics sells the kit in a couple of different fabric combos. There are also multiple ways one can piece the strips. There is also the option of simply using fabrics cut into the wedge shapes and not using pieced strips at all. In addition, there is a Youtube sew-along video to aid in the sewing process. Somewhere we heard mention that this is a quick project. Kay, Pat and I are experienced quilters and we found this to be more of a two day project. It took one afternoon to cut all the pieces. We started sewing the pieces together that evening and finished piecing the following day. Another day is needed to sew the wedges to the batting and add the binding.
Most of the fun was in having a sleepover while we sewed. We stayed up sewing until almost midnight. We took breaks for meal but otherwise felt happy sewing and chatting away. We had three sewing machines, three cutting mats, rotary cutters, etc. all going at the same time. We worked in comfy clothes (or pajamas) and encouraged one another through any challenging parts. At one point, my wedges were not fitting the template size as they should. After much trial and error, we found that it was my ironing board cover that was distorting the pieced wedges when I ironed them. I switched to ironing on a wool mat and all was well.
All-in-all, this is a fun quilt to make. The kit made it super simple by having all the desired fabrics chosen for us. Even better is that the kit includes backing fabric, binding fabric, the marked batting and the plastic cutting template. I hope to finish sewing it up today. When it is done, I will tuck it away to use next Christmas.
