Union Jack Bed Quilt

I had an enquiry from a customer in Switzerland to make a bed-sized Union Jack quilt - a much larger version of my patchwork quilt wall hangings.

I had to scale up the small version to make full-sized templates, then take the fabrics and patchwork them together to fit the templates, before sewing the whole top together.

I used a variety of cotton fabrics, including a few recycled pieces which I thought were strong enough to take the wear and tear of a bed quilt. All the fabrics (except the wadding) were pre-laundered to minimise the shrinkage that occurs with cottons, but I did allow some extra length and width, because of possible shrinkage to the wadding.

The pressed backing was then laid out with the cotton wadding in the centre and the ironed quilt top on top. I used a small basting gun to join the three layers together (these use a finer version of the plastic tags that attach labels to garments in shops).

The quilt was then machine sewn, following the lines of the design, and using matching (red, white or blue) thread on the front, and white on the reverse. The quilt was then trimmed to size and bound using white cotton fabric using both machine and hand stitches.

A label with the quilt name, 'Austerity Britain No 10', and my details was added to the back.