What I Learned About Sewing With Essex Linens
In a nutshell: I loved it!
I’ve never sewn with linen before and was surprised to discover forgiveness in these beautiful fabrics. Their inherent texture locked pieces in place and their weave made it possible to gently ease seams and to guide the fabric along to match points and flying geese more easily than I had expected – especially for thicker fabric. I also love the depth and texture they added to my quilt. Before starting this project, I did do some research and found many helpful tips - some of which I’ll share here. While I followed many of them, I still ended up a little anxious when closing the washing machine door for the first time. You know how it is.
My ‘Blizzard’ quilt. Finished, quilted and unwashed
Quilt Deets
First up, for inquiring minds, here are all the quilt material specs (I don’t receive any affiliate perks by sharing these):
Pattern: ‘Blizzard’. I originally designed this versatile quilt pattern to go along with my Felicity Batiks fabric collection. This 2-color version is also offered as an option in the pdf pattern. I added an extra row so the quilt would hang off the sides of our queen bed.
Fabrics: Essex yarn-dyed linen in ‘Olive’ and Homespun linen in ‘Charcoal.’ Both are made by Robert Kaufman Fabrics and are a blend of 55% linen and 45% cotton.
Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. #5021 This was a perfect match to the Olive fabric and disappeared even when I machine - sewed my binding on.
Batting: I’m not brand loyal here. I most frequently use 100% cotton (or close) batting because I love the weight, thickness, temperature and natural fibers.
To Pre-wash or Not to Pre-wash
I didn’t. Since I was not combining fabric types, I thought this was a safe bet and it turned out fine in the end. If I was going to use a mix of cotton and linen (or linen blend like Essex), I definitely would have pre-washed both. I also did not end up pre-soaking the batting prior to use, despite the manufacturer’s note on the label – that I usually never read! Thanks to everyone on Instagram and Facebook who weighed in when I asked about that. My washed quilt ended up shrinking overall about 3% (or approximately 2”). Needless to say, if you’re sewing a garment, pre-washing linen is essential!
Seam Allowance + Stitch Length
The more the better for both. The fiber length of linen is much longer than cotton which makes it a more durable fabric, but linen frays a LOT. It’s a good idea to use a full 1/4” seam allowance and to reduce the stitch length to around 1.9 to secure the seam and prevent puckering. If you wanted to be extremely cautious, you could sew a second seam to further prevent fraying. I didn’t take that step.
Quilting + Binding
After finishing piecing, I read about how the weight of linen can cause more stress on seams than with cotton fabrics. I kept this in mind when planning how to quilt. All of my patterns come with a planning and coloring page which I used to plot out a continuous stitching path for each block. Initially I thought to emphasize the flower shapes, but decided instead to keep it simple and ended up using my walking foot to echo each of the larger shapes, essentially reinforcing the seams at the same time.
For binding, I recommend starting with 2 1/2” strips that are joined with diagonal seams. Otherwise, the double bulk of a straight seam folded over on itself from back to front will be hard to sew through.
Washing + Drying
To minimize excessive shrinkage, I washed in cold water on a delicate cycle and dried on a regular cotton setting with medium heat. I pulled the quilt out just before it was completely dry. All good!
Mascots + Inspectors
It’s good to have someone to check your work along the way. I’m grateful that Lou took it upon himself to make periodic inspections on thread selection, quilting options, and backing design. He’s such a dependable helper. Franny is more of a finisher and came in at the end to make sure my seams held together in the wash. Thankfully, they did. She timed this perfectly with the arrival of the sun.
Crinkly Love
If you love fresh-from-the-dryer crinkly quilts like I do, nothing delivers wrinkles like linen! I loved working with this fabric and am already picking colors for another quilt I have in mind. You know how it goes! As for this one, I may never take it off our bed. Franny and Lou won’t mind that one bit. If you have some tips you’d like to share, please feel free to add them to the comments. Happy sewing! XO, Kate
