Umbrella Theme Lap Quilt

It's finally finished.

 

Colors in the backing are not quite true.

 

Front has diagonal quilting to indicate rain. 

Umbrella has fabric ruching, navy with yellow edge.

Blue pocket has Velcro on flap.

Lime birds echo the fleece print, orange wings.

 Flowers have varying textures. Darker pink and blue are silk, the pink print flowers are stitched for tactile effect. Couched green silk ribbon for stems.

Yellow umbrella is my favorite addition. Handle is green grosgrain ribbon, ruched at the crook of the handle. Ruching is my favorite embellishment. The umbrella is trimmed with fabric ruching. Varying widths and ribbons make all kinds of different trims with little effort except a little hand stitching prior to applying.

Ruching

Despite all the ribbons I have for trim, there are few that are wide enough for wide ruching. I experimented with fabric strips. I am delighted with the results.

 This first strip of ruffling is a happy accident. I used a strip from a print that looks like pieces of seamed material, some print, some plaid, some plain. I seamed a folded piece that had a green print next to a solid blue. I meant to use the print below. When I turned it over, it is a solid with a print edge.

 The solid dark blue on the reverse was narrower than the print and does not show.

This is a wide piece, too wide for the project with the yellow umbrella applique but a nice ruffle. 

The same fabric as above but a narrower piece, which I liked better.

 This ruching strip is a piece of wired ribbon that I removed the thin wire. Without the wire it's still stiff ribbon and did not turn out as pretty as I'd hoped. Ruching works best with ribbon or fabric that is soft.

There's nothing difficult in making ruching. a gathering thread that goes from one edge to the other like this: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is pulled up until scallops form. Tie off the gathering thread. Pretty ribbons ruch well. Fabric strips with the raw edges turned in or seamed into a tube and turned make great ribbon-like pieces.

There are ruching videos and tutorials on the internet made by professional art quilters and fiber artists.