All the Details on my Finished Deviate Quilt

Just two more weeks until our baby girl is due to arrive and I finally finished her last baby quilt. This quilt was one that I pattern tested but didn’t really have a plan for until I got is back from the long arm quilter…then I knew that I had to keep it!

I have only pattern tested a handful of quilts in the past, but when Kiley from Kiley’s Quilt Room (and Editor of Modish Quilter) reached out to see if I would test her upcoming pattern, I was so excited! I was a little nervous because this quilt was also my first attempt at Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP), but she promised it was a beginner level design and that the pattern would walk step by step through the process. And boy am I glad I branched out! I learned a new skill and found that I love the precision of paper piecing. This was my first FPP quilt, but it won’t be my last!

If you are new to Foundation Paper Piecing, here are a few tips that I picked up while testing this pattern:

Use Foundation Paper. I tried using regular computer paper, and this was so much easier to use. Here is the brand I used.
Shorten your stitch length. I set mine to 1.6 and this made it much easier to peel the paper at the end.
I’ve also heard that many quilters like to use finer thread. I used my typical 50wt thread and it worked just fine, but I am going to try a higher weight on my next quilt to compare.

As for the design of the quilt, the pattern that I tested was called the Deviate Quilt from Kiley’s Quilt Room and it is available now! Kiley offered testers a fabric discount at one of her favorite online fabric shops, Binded with Love. I took advantage of the offer and had them curate a custom bundle of soft blues and pinks and paired them with a white background (see below for all the fabric details).

Being so close to my due date, getting down on the ground to pin paste a quilt was a challenge so I decided to send it off to my friend Paige of The Dogeared Quilt for long arm quilting. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to try using Shannon Minky as the backing fabric. Paige used the pantograph called Sprawl and I could not be happier with how it came out! I think it was the perfect design for this quilt and looks great on the minky back.

And because this was a quilt of firsts (first paper piecing, first minky…), I decided to try my hand at a new binding technique. Rather than make binding and stitch it on, instead I trimmed the minky fabric about an inch wider than my quilt top and folded it over to create a cozy, frayed look. If you are looking for guidance, I got my idea from this Instagram post by PiperAutumnFabrics.

All together, I love how this quilt turned out! It was a quilt of trying new things, which made it perfect for all the new beginnings headed our way.