jaina: (rvb - chupathingy)
[personal profile] jaina
Okay, this one's a bit of a cheat-- it was about 99% done at the end of 2008. ;-) And I started it, um, almost five years ago. (Oops?)



[livejournal.com profile] sirrogue is an avid player of customizable card games (CCGs)-- mostly Star Trek these days, but he used to play a lot of Star Wars too (among other things). Decipher, the company that made the games, used to give T-shirts with images of various cards as tournament prizes. Rogue had a bunch of them, and they were starting to get kind of old, so I offered to make him a quilt out of them...back in 2004. I got the whole quilt top made, and got it pinned together with the batting and backing, and there I stopped. For four years. Because I couldn't figure out how the heck to quilt the darn thing. It was way too big to quilt with my sewing machine, the thought of quilting the whole queen-sized thing by hand made me want to cry, and I didn't want to obscure the images with yarn ties.

Somewhere in the past four years, I did some googling and discovered the "invisible" quilt tying method, where you use a long piece of thread/yarn/string/whatever (I used thin crochet cotton) and a long doll needle, and basically you thread the yarn through the batting and every few inches, you come up, take a stitch or two all the way through, then thread back into the batting. But I still didn't actually quilt the thing. Then in November of this year, [livejournal.com profile] vampiretheatre posted a T-shirt blanket she'd made of her old MTG shirts, and I was like OK, it is time to finish this freaking thing. I tried to get it done by the end of 2008, but didn't quite make it. It was all quilted, but not bound. I started binding it on New Year's Day, and I finished this morning!

Specs: It's queen-sized, 100" x 85". I did use the invisible quilting method, making little Xs as my stitches. The t-shirt parts are all backed with iron-on interfacing, the cheap stuff from JoAnn. (Next time I'm getting nicer stuff.) The backing, binding, and the in-between blocks are a quilting cotton, little white stars on blue fabric. The big blocks are the cards from the front of the shirt and the slogan from the back, and the little squares are the logo from the sleeve.

The Star Wars cards:
Boba Fett
Leia Organa
Jabba the Hutt
Yoda
Millennium Falcon
C-3P0
Grand Moff Tarkin
Obi-Wan Kenobi
General Veers

The Star Trek cards:
Data
Dukat
Jean-Luc Picard
Worf

The slogans:
"Never underestimate the power of the Force"
"Expand your power in the universe..."
"Choose Your Path..."

Here is it all laid out (upside down) when I first pinned it together over four years ago (look at all the furniture we don't have anymore, and how few DVDs there are!):



I think he likes it!



PHEW. Man am I glad to have that finished!

Date: 2009-01-04 03:53 am (UTC)
ext_15623: (Oddly Domesticated)
From: [identity profile] anomilygrace.livejournal.com
It's lovely! It looks like it will be - and already is - well-loved.

I googled that invisible tying method, and that sounds like such a neat idea. Did you end up using it? Was it annoying fiddly?

Date: 2009-01-04 05:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you! :)

That is indeed the method I used. It was really quite easy and not too fiddly at all! I just spread it out in front of the TV and did a few rows a night. If you click through to the super high res version of the first picture, you can see the little Xs of my stitches.

Date: 2009-01-05 04:33 am (UTC)
ext_15623: (Default)
From: [identity profile] anomilygrace.livejournal.com
Oh! Yes, yes, I can. That looks really neat. I'm in the process of doing a quilt that I was planning on tying, but the more I think of it, the less I like the way that looks. I want something a little more finished looking without trying to hand or machine quilt it! This may be the fun way to go. I'm kinda in love with the wee x's.

Date: 2009-01-05 05:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Cool! Let me know how it goes for you, if you decide to try it. Toward the end, I started to get kind of tired of it, but overall it was a pretty easy and neat way to get it done. The one thing I had to watch out for was, I had to be really careful that when I was going between stitches, I had the needle going through the batting, not all the way through and across the back. There were a couple of times when I inspected a line I'd just finished, and there was a big long stretch of yarn across the back of the quilt, and then I had to pull it back and redo it. :(

Date: 2009-01-04 03:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lordofhaladin.livejournal.com
sweet! :D

I want to make a quilt but i just don't know how to even start...

and don't feel too bad, I have a quilt I started when I was 6. I am 21 and still havne't finished it.

Date: 2009-01-04 05:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thanks! I have a pretty nice book that goes over the basics of quiltmaking...it was really helpful. :)

Date: 2009-01-04 06:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lordofhaladin.livejournal.com
what is the book called? I want to start making them (quilts) and I just find them intimidating!

Date: 2009-01-04 06:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Let's see...it is called the Quilter's Complete Guide, by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter.

Date: 2009-01-04 04:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eliz.livejournal.com
That's awesome!!!

I need to make one of these quilts of all my favorite t-shirts- the jadecons and hard rocks and all my other favorites.

If I got it done within 5 years I'd be shocked. :)

Great job!!!

Date: 2009-01-04 05:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm planning to make another one (although not right away) of shirts from my college musicals and JadeCons and other fun stuff.

Date: 2009-01-04 05:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blizzardskies.livejournal.com
Awesome!!! I just finished a quilt I was working on for 5 years. It has stars and planets, but I need to do an all SW one. Probably take me another five years. ;)

Date: 2009-01-04 06:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Oh, cool! Did you post any pictures of it? I'd love to see.

Date: 2009-01-04 06:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blizzardskies.livejournal.com
It's mostly pink and yellow though. It was cheap garage sale material. LOL

http://www.blizzardskies.com/bz/lj/blizzquilt10-19-08.jpg

Date: 2009-01-04 06:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Oh, pretty! I especially love the blue swirly fabric.

Date: 2009-01-04 05:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] flyingcarpet.livejournal.com
Wow -- it looks great! And hey, congrats on starting the new year off right. Here's to finishing stuff in 2009! (I could use a year of finishing projects myself.)

Date: 2009-01-04 06:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you! That's a great way to think of it!

Date: 2009-01-04 06:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] padawansguide.livejournal.com
That's awesome!! Quilting is a big mystery to me! How great to check something like that off your list too!

Date: 2009-01-04 06:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you! It was quite a learning experience, for sure. It feels so great to have it done!

Date: 2009-01-04 02:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anirt.livejournal.com
Neat!

Date: 2009-01-05 05:44 am (UTC)

Date: 2009-01-04 02:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vampiretheatre.livejournal.com
Yay I inspired someone!! (sorta)


Looks great :-D

Date: 2009-01-05 05:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
You totally did! Thank you!

Date: 2009-01-04 04:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rosiewook.livejournal.com
You should post this to Fandom_Quilts. They'd LOVE this one!

http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_quilts/

Date: 2009-01-05 05:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Oh cool, I'll have to do that. Thanks!

Date: 2009-01-04 04:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amizada.livejournal.com
That is AWESOME! I love it. I just got a sewing machine for Xmas and I hope to be as proficient as you one day. I'm a lowly beginner lol.

Date: 2009-01-05 05:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you! Hey, we were all beginners once upon a time! :D

Date: 2009-01-04 07:04 pm (UTC)
jencallisto: photo of my back as I'm twirling, white lace skirt and long dark hair flying (Default)
From: [personal profile] jencallisto
That's fabulous! And the last pic is adorable. :)

Date: 2009-01-05 05:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you so much!

Date: 2009-01-05 01:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/my_belle_/
so.awesome.

seriously, that is so fantastic!!!!

Date: 2009-01-05 05:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you!!!

Date: 2009-01-05 06:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dm-lunsford.livejournal.com
It's beautiful! Nothing like seeing your hard work come together in the finished product. : )

Date: 2009-01-06 02:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! I agree, it's really satisfying!

Date: 2009-01-06 09:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] llyrafantasyfae.livejournal.com
That is really cool. Glad you were able to finish it.

Date: 2009-01-07 06:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jainamsolo.livejournal.com
Thank you!

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