For those of you who have purchased or sewn with Japanese double gauze, your eyes are probably popping and you're thinking "GIRL, YOU BOUGHT ALL THAT?!"
I'll stop you there and say, no, I didn't buy it, I STOLE IT. That makes it better, yes?
Mariko had a stack of half yards of Nani Iro Pocho and Fuwari Fuwari sitting on her shelf for years. I knew that she had planned to make a quilt out of them, but after watching the stack sit untouched on her shelves, taunting me, I finally took it down and told her I had a plan.
I had no such plan.
And so they sat on my shelf for a year and a half until one day I said, "enough!" and I cut into them with a half plan and a lot of good intention. The pattern is based on a throw project from Rashida Coleman's, "I Heart Patchwork". The squares are 9". I had wanted to tie it but I didn't want it to look fussy, so I opted for diagonal straight line quilting. The back is two lengths of double gauze sewn together, and I like it almost better than the front.
A few notes on working with double gauze:
- I didn't prewash because I wanted it to fluff up quite a bit in the dryer. Double gauze washes up almost like flannel and there's significant shrinkage due to a pretty loose weave.
- Because of that loose weave, piecing double gauze is best done on or against the grain. It frays and I had a monkey of a time trying to match those points due to stretching.
- It is so dang COZY, almost like a comforter. I stitched the binding on while putting T to sleep one night. I promptly fell asleep under it. I gave it to Mariko the next day because I knew I would want to keep it if I dragged it out.
These projects bring me great joy. When I first started blogging (8 years ago?) I used to send surprise packages and swap beautiful things with people all over the world. It was fun and not always predicated on reciprocation. Making stuff and giving it away without occasion is so freeing and sweet. I need to fit more of that gift giving into my life again. Of course, if I can't find anything for Mariko for Christmas, I'm calling this her gift. So basically, I'm also covering my ass.
