So, this month, Island Batik has given us freedom to make whatever our heart desires. My heart has many desires, but unfortunately not enough time to make everything!

When I was at a retreat at Over the Rainbow at the beginning of April, one of the retreaters, Dana, was wearing her quilted housecoat / robe and it looked great. It is super scrappy and very beautiful!! I’ve been meaning to make my own for some time. I’m always cold these days, so a quilted house coat will be perfect for me. Pamela, from Pamela Quilts made a quilted jacket for the Island Batik Fly Away challenge and I fell in LOVE. You can see her jacket HERE.

Now blue and teal are my favourite colours, so that was an easy decision to make. I went through my old garment patterns and found a few housecoat patterns. I pulled them out and none of them would be good for what I wanted to do. BUT I had a silk robe (that was bought in China eons ago) that was perfect. Boxy sleeves, a rectangle front and back. So, with seam ripper in hand, deconstruction began. I made my pattern pieces from the deconstructed robe.

I started out with cutting Hobbs silk batting larger than my pattern pieces; wanting to leave extra room in case the quilting shrunk the pieces too much. I drew the 45^o lines on the batting and then using, a Brilliant Blues gradations strip pack that I received in January, I did a quilt as you go and got the sleeve bases done.

My plan was to do the quilt as you go on the batting and then later line the housecoat/robe with rayon.

The housecoat/robe was basically designed as I went along …. After I had fun making the sleeves, I pulled out my AccuQuilt Tree of Life block and made it. It was quilted onto the back.

This picture is making sure the dark blue border around the Tree of Life is the correct width! I was turning the edge under ¹/₄” so that the other pieces could be added.

I was zoom sewing with my sister and she said that with having a Tree of Life, I needed something “earthy” below. These Prairie Dreams strips were left-over from a Bargello quilt that I made for our March “It’s All Up to You” Challenge. You can read about it HERE. I did it as a quilt as you go under the Tree of Life and slipped each piece under the dark blue border around the Tree of Life.

Then I made 10 Glorified 9 patches, made with the Accuquilt die. These squares use “Rice,” a lovely neutral, a variety of dark teals along with “Nautilus teal” from Claudia Pfeil’s Mystery collection that I received a few years ago. These are intended for the front of the housecoat.

And here are the pieces laid out on my design wall. Once I had them on the wall, I realized that the sleeves made with the Brilliant Blue strips was a “NO.” They are beautiful and I’ll use them in another project – they won’t be wasted.

I dug through my Island Batik stash and found the teal/gold print with turtles on it. It’s a piece I’ve been hoarding keeping for something special. So why not use it for my cozy housecoat? A much better fit, right?

The edge of the robe, the tie, and the back lining is made with an Island Batik rayon “Night Moves” that I received a few years ago in one of my boxes. The half stars above the tree of life were made with Studio 180 Wedge Tool using a blue fabric that was in a stash builder’s roll.

Housecoat / Robe Stats:

• Fabrics: Variety of Island Batik cotton and rayon
• Needles: Schmetz Microtex
• Thread: Aurifil:
  • #2785: 50 (very dark navy) wide binding and hem
  • #4661: 40 wt (variegated mint julep) sleeve quilting
  • #4655: 50 wt (variegated storm at sea) Tree of Life quilting
  • #4182: 50 wt (dark turquoise) Glorified 9 patch quilting
  • #2600: 50 wt (dove) piecing
• Hobbs Batting: Silk
• Accuquilt dies: Tree of Life, Glorified 9 patch
• Studio 180 tool: Wedge

So would I make this housecoat/robe again? The answer is “not this way!” If I were to make another one, I’d quilt the lining as I quilted the top and simply serge the inside seams. But that won’t be happening anytime soon! 🤪

Thank You!

Disclosure: The fabrics, batting, thread and needles were generously supplied by the following companies: Thank you, Island Batik,  Aurifil Thread,  Hobbs Batting,  Schmetz Needles,   Studio 180 Designs, Accuquilt

Island Batik Ambassadors

Visit the rest of the Island Batik Ambassadors to see what they have made for this challenge:

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts
Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts
Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts
Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You
Randi Jones ~ Randi’s Roost

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney ~ Quiltery – For The Love Of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Elita Sharpe ~ Busy Needle
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Anorina Morris ~ sameliasmum.com
Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique
Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia
Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

Linking to:

• Midweek Makers @  QuiltFabrication
• Wednesday Wait Loss @  Inquiring Quilter
• Happy Needle  and Thread @  My Quilt Infatuation
• Andrée / Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting & Learning – What a combo!
• Put your Foot Down @ For the Love of Geese
• Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @  Confessions of a Fabric Addict
• Finished or Not Friday  @ Alycia Quilts
• Sherry @  Powered by Quilting
• Off the Wall Friday @ Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever
• Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More
• TGIFF @ Quilt Scapes