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Why Linen

Back in 2018 I started making this quilt out of scrap and vintage linen, which was my first attempt to work primarily with this natural fabric. I had a lot of trouble with it, mainly during the piecing stage, as linen tends to shift and move and not behave like cotton. I also made the mistake of including a vintage linen blend fabric that resisted stitching because it was very tightly woven, so I had to fight those patches during the embroidery phase.

I did every block with slow stitch, and improvised all the designs, but about halfway through embroidering the quilt I felt frustrated, and my inspiration dwindled, so I set it aside for a few months. Then happily I got over my stitching block, went back and finished it.

Linen is wonderful to stitch on; the loose weave and lovely feel of it made every moment I spent embroidering a joy (except for those linen blend patches. Holy Toledo, those were a huge pain.) For that reason I recommend giving it a try. Just maybe start smaller on your first go, and test all the linen you do use first to make sure you can get a needle through it easily.

I don't know what will happen when I start making my second linen art quilt; I'm trying not to plan too much in advance.

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