Haptic Lab Constellation Quilt – Part 1

Over a year ago I started seeing these gorgeous constellation quilts from Haptic Lab, but I told myself I had too many hand sewing projects going. I bet you know where this is going, don’t you? A few months ago, despite having finished none of the previously mentioned hand sewing projects, I decided to make one anyway. This project is a little different from normal hand sewing for me because it is more hand embroidery work so I felt more of a need to do research and figure out exactly what I needed before I got started.

What you need:

• Haptic Lab Constellation Quilt Kit
• Hand sewing needles (with eye holes big enough for your chosen thread)
• Thread for the project
• Quilt batting
• Quilt top fabric
  • regular width: 4 yards
  • 108″ wide: 2 yards
• Quilt back fabric
• Pins
• Embroidery hoop (optional)
• Masking or painters tape (optional, but highly recommended)

I bought the constellation kit. I had plenty of needles and pins to make use of. I used batting that I already had (Warm & Natural quilt batting) for the project. That left me with the big choices: fabric and thread colors.

When looking at fabric for the background I got my heart set on Kona Spruce by Robert Kaufman. This only comes in regularly sized yards, not 108″ wide fabric. What this means is you are going to have to piece the top and you will have a visible seam line. For this reason many people use 108″ wide fabric for this project instead. The issue with using the wide backing instead is that there are WAY fewer options. Exponentially fewer options. I decided to risk a visible seam line, hoping all the hand sewn designs would make it hard to see the seam. We shall see if that was the right call. Kona Spruce is just so pretty y’all and I am a sucker for a beautiful colored solid fabric. Plus, look at it with the mustard thread!

I decided to use three different threads for the project. All were picked up from Joann’s Fabric.

1. Gutermann polyester thread. Cotton is preferred for handquilting/sewing, but I could only find a great color match to the quit top(Kona Spruce) in a polyester. This thread has a small weight (thread thickness) for the constellation grid lines because I wanted them to blend in and not be very noticeable.
2. DMC perle 5 weight in 783. This is a gorgeous mustard in a thick thread for the constellations and stars so that it will be very visible on the quilt top. I bought seven, but I honestly have no idea how much I will end up needing.
3. DMC perle 5 weight in ….? I couldn’t (and still haven’t) decided between a wine color (814) or white (blanc) in this thick thread for the constellation names. I got three of each, I hope it is enough.

I have a hoop, but I honestly hate to use it so I don’t. Hoops are recommended and do keep everything tighter, but you don’t have to use them when you hand sew. If you decide to go hoop-less, you need to put more pins in your quilt while basting to keep everything tight.

Those are all the supplies I have gotten so far. Did you notice something missing? The backing.

Bold Backing Decision

I decided to make a very bold choice on the process of making this quilt. I decided to do all the hand work without the backing being a part of the process until I was finished with all the embroidery work. Have you ever seen the back of an embroidery project? It is a mess of threads and just not pretty at all.

The plan is to baste the quilt a second time when I have finished all the hand work and then hand quilt it. This will mean that while the top of the quilt has all the embroidery work and the hand quilting, the back will only have the hand quilting and will look like the back of a normal quilt. This has one main risk associated with it: batting will be left open to the world the entire time that I embroidery this project. Embroidery takes a while and this means that I need to protect the batting from getting damaged or covered in dog hair for that entire time frame. I have two corgis that I affectionately call hair tornadoes. As I am writing this I am realizing that this may have been a very poor choice, but it is too late now.

Let’s do this!

If your quilt top is not 108″ fabric, the first thing you need to do is piece your quilt top. Cut your four yards into two: 2 yard pieces. You can do this by measuring or you can take the entire length of your fabric and fold it in half. If you have four yards, that fold line will be the 2 yard mark. Cut there. Once you have two: 2 yard pieces you sew them together length wise. While sewing, make sure the selvage edge (weird looking part) isn’t visible. Make sure that you ironed your seam and the top is not wrinkly (wrinkles are you enemy) before moving onto the next step.

I like to floor baste, I think it is easier than everything else so I will be describing the process using floor basting. The rest of the instructions will assume that you are not including the quilt backing. If you are, the quilt backing needs to be the first thing laid on the floor, with the right side facing the floor and the wrong side up towards you. Tape it down.

• Get your batting and lay it on the floor. Smooth out any folds or anywhere it is not laying down flat. Take four-ish large pieces of masking tape and put one large piece of tape in each corner to keep it from sliding around.
• Get your quilt top. Lay the quilt top on top of the batting. Smooth out any folds or wrinkles. You want this to be REALLY smooth. Start in the center and work your way out. Get some masking tape and tape the edges down every like 2 feet or so.
• Get your two pieces of haptic lab paper things out. Lay them down where the overlap lines up and smooth it out.
• Get your pins and pin it all down. If you are not going to use a hoop, use plenty of pins. If you have carpet, make sure you are not pining the carpet to your quilt sandwich (yes, I have done this).
• Peel all the tape off

Let the embroidering commence. 🙂

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