“To Make Do”……to work with what you have.

This quilt was started with no real intention or preparation. I just wanted to use the rest of a charm pack I had laying on my studio table.  So, I went to my stash, grabbing some white-on-white cotton fabric, cut it into 5” squares, and started piecing the fabric and charm pack together in a simple random pattern.

Looking good….yes it was! Add rick rack, of course! Oh wait, it’s not big enough for anything other than a table topper….I’ll add a border and make it into a lap quilt!

A white border would really set off the pretty colors in the center and the bright red rick rack. I grabbed the remaining white-on-white fabric….ahhh, what happened? I had a small piece remaining, that’s all. No….not nearly enough!

Back to the stash hoping to find more hiding out. No such luck, now what? Dig some more and discover a pretty white eyelet fabric. I have never used eyelet for a quilt, but why not?

I decide to “Make Do”! Here’s how I did it.

• Cut the border strips from the white eyelet fabric.

• To keep the batting from poking through the holes in the eyelet fabric; cut lining strips from lightweight cotton such as white batiste, the same size as the border strips.

• Baste the right sides of the lining strips to the wrong sides of the eyelet border strips.

• Next, stitch the border units to the outside edges of the quilt’s center.

• Quilt the quilt in the same manner as normal.

“Making do” added an extra design element to the quilt, saved money, and looks pretty!