The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sew Along Archives

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Set-Up

October 23, 2015 by Nanny Leave a Comment

Hi!

Today I thought I would show you some things that I will use to make my Sew Along experience more enjoyable – The Farmer’s Wife 1930s set-Up!

I would have loved to be doing my piecing on my Mum’s treadle machine, but my back condition will not allow that so I am going to use my Featherweight. Here she is, set up on a table made using the bottom of my Grandma’s treadle machine (unfortunately, at a time in its life that it needed some serious TLC, my Uncle left a window open and the weather ruined Grandma’s machine – I was able to rescue the base and it makes a lovely desk in my craft room!)

Mum’s treadley is sitting right next to us so we will all be ‘together’ – Mum was born in 1930!

I will be using my sand paper/glass paper board when I have to draw diagonals etc

My pressing board will be a real necessity

and my design board will make sure my pieces stay in the correct order as I construct the block!

Of course I need my book The Farmer’s Wife 1930’s and my computer – add to that my scissors, rotary cutter and rulers and the odd pin and I think that should get me there!

I am behind the schedule now following my Dad’s recent health issues, but will continue to plod along, be kind to myself and know that I will get there!

These are the blocks I have completed:

#12 BECKY

# 16 BONNIE

#8 AUNT

and #20 CAROLINE

I am really enjoying the process and hope that you will enjoy following along on the journey with me!

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Design Board

October 11, 2015 by Nanny 11 Comments

Hi!

This is something I am going to be using constantly while making my Farmer’s Wife 1930’s quilt so I thought I would show you how easy it is to make a Design Board.

What you need:

An art canvas – pick one up for a couple of dollars. Mine is 12″ x 12″

A scrap of cotton wadding

A staple gun

Let’s do it!

Place the wadding on a hard surface and place the canvas upside down on top of it. Fold the wadding up and over the edge and staple it.

2. When you get to the corner, just cut a piece out to reduce the bulk

3. Fold the corner and keep stapling

4. That’s it – all done!

Here is mine with my latest block all set out ready to go to the machine

and look – you can even turn it upside down and the pieces don’t fall off!

They won’t even end up on the floor if someone opens the door and the wind rushes in!

It is really something to think about if you don’t have one as it literally only takes minutes to make and it can it save you a lot of grief. It doesn’t take up much space next to your machine and you can easily see that you are joining the right pieces!

I’d love to know if you think you will make a design board too!

Until next time

Nanny xx

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sew Along!

October 2, 2015 by Nanny Leave a Comment

I have decided to join a Sew Along!! It is The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sew Along that is being organised by Gnome Angel using the book ‘The Farmer’s Wife’ 1930s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird. You can see details here if you are interested in joining! The aim is to make a total of 99 blocks over the next year – 2 each week.

I decided to do this for a number of reasons:

I love to read and the book is full of ‘inspiring letters from the women of the Great Depression’
I have always been in awe of women of yesteryear – the way they used everything and created beauty from within with so little. We take so much for granted as we sit in our designated sewing areas with our modern machines and tools. I love that this is an opportunity to reflect on this and to feel a oneness with these women as we, the women of today, create the blocks ‘that honour them’
I love the idea of women all over the world sharing this experience – the facebook page that was set up for the Sew Along now has 3, 894 members!!
I love to learn and see this as a great learning experience.
I liked the idea of having a big project broken down into achievable steps – especially when someone else has done it for me
I love that it is bringing together quilters of all ages. levels of experience and languages
I have never made a quilt for ME – I have gifted all of my quilts – who knows, I might just keep this one!

The fabric choice for the Sew Along is a personal one – some are making the quilt using one designers range, others are using mixed fabrics from their stash, some are going ‘modern’ and some are using 1930’s reproduction fabrics.

I decided that I wanted to go with the 1930 reproduction fabrics as I really want to immerse myself into the ‘feel’ of the era .

I have some ‘Everything but the Kitchen Sink’ from RJR Fabrics