Kate Evans bought some Charm Packs (Lakes, Ruby Reds and Colourshott) from Oakshott and waited for inspiration to strike. She has now finished a charming bed runner and filled us in on her work process:
I guess the fabrics were the initial inspiration for the project. I had been wondering what to do with the beautiful Oakshott charm packs I’d bought for quite a while and came up with the idea of applique flowers where each petal is a slightly different shade. The different colours in the ranges complement each other so well and really seem to bring life to applique work.
I cut the petals using a heart shaped die on my Sissix machine and started with one 10″ square from an assortment of Moda Whispers Muslin Mates that were in my stash. Each flower was appliqued using a matching variegated thread. Pleased with the result, I completed 6 more squares, then put them all in a box for a while whilst I wondered what to do with them.
I eventually added some of Oakshott’s Lyon and Nimes fabrics (which I believe are now discontinued*) which worked really well with the Lakes, Ruby Reds and Colourshott charm packs I’d used for the petals. I added a 5″ (finished) border to the row of 7 squares and made the backing and binding from different lengths of Lyons and Nimes.
The quilting is very simple, consisting of 5 rows of shadow stitching in blue on the border around the centre panel and one row in white around each of the 7 squares that make up the panel.
If this inspires you, let us see your finished result.
*but the Oakshott range has expanded since then, so you’ll find something to suit – promise!
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