Tuleberg Community Quilt Day

Tuleberg Finished Pillowcases
Tuleberg Finished Pillowcases

On Wednesday the YM and I went to Stockton to spend the day making pillowcases with the Tuleberg Quilt Guild. My mom is a member. She told me about it and since we haven’t had a chance to get together alone this month, I decided to go. When I found out the YM would be home, I convinced him to tag along. He wants to learn to sew, so this was a good opportunity to start.

It is a far drive for us, so we go there a little late and, after setting up, he went off with my mom to get something to eat. Is tarted cutting up fabric to make the first pillowcase and quickly realized that he wouldn’t be able to make a whole pillowcase on his own. I decided to do the cutting and have him sew.

YM Sewing Cuffs to Bodies
YM Sewing Cuffs to Bodies

It has been a long time since he sat in front of a machine, so this was a good decision. He carefully guided the fabric through the machine, encountering the stop and start problems of the feed dogs not grabbing the fabric, thread bunnies and backstitching. We used the pillowcase tutorial I have cobbled together from experience and a variety of sources. He chain pieced the cuff/body burrito together. I also had him turn the burritos inside out and do a little pressing when I got behind. By the end, the three of us were all working together to finish the pillowcases.

Mom working on pillowcases
Mom working on pillowcases

I brought some yard sized pieces of fabric I didn’t think I would use, but cutting bits out for other projects does help with this. Fortunately, I have realized this and started cutting up the side of yardage, so I have a chance of having enough for a body (yard sized length) and cuff (half yard sized length). Newer fabric is easier to use, but so far I still like it enough to not want to use it for community quilts/projects. I suppose that is something I have to work on.

As a team, we made 5 pillowcases in about 3 hours. This is probably a bit slow, but I do French seams so everything is enclosed and that takes longer. I don’t have a serger, so this is the best way for me to achieve my goal.

They also had an ice cream social, which was make it yourself sundaes and banana splits. I love banana splits and made myself a small one. They brought real glass sundae holders, which was really classy.

Tuleberg Pillowcase display
Tuleberg Pillowcase display

The guild ended up with 121 pillowcases for the day, which I thought was a good effort.

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

One thought on “Tuleberg Community Quilt Day”

  1. This seems like a really good way to spend time together with family and a good way for your YM to get back into sewing. I’m glad he’s interested in doing that. My grandson and I made pillowcases together when he was in jr high. He was fascinated by the burrito method and picked it up faster than I.

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