In January 2022 I entered into a sewing game. The task was to sew a tondo. We could use any available technique as long as the end result was in the shape of a circle.
I loved the idea. I have never sewed a tondo before. I immediately thought to myself that I could make something solely by quilting it. A while ago I sewed something in a similar style in the “rhythm and repetition” challenge by Kim Lapacek.
Back then I sewed some pillows for my rabbits, which you can read about here.
This time I decided to quilt a mandala, only much bigger and much more colorful.
I got the pattern from Tamsamtam. I am a big fan of her.
Of course, I could draw something similar for myself (at least I hope I can), butmy husband said – “why break into open doors”. Tamsamtam makes wonderful mandalas, and it would be a pity not to show her projects to the world.
I chose some black fabric for the background. It was a very important element in my project. It had to highlight the colors used in the mandala.
I started the fun by printing out the pattern. Then I copied the pattern on to the black fabric.
When the design was ready, I stretched it up on my long arm and started quilting. I started from the center of the mandala.
In order not to erase the white pencil marks, I put a large piece of clear plastic foil under my hands. As a result, the pencil remained on the fabric and my hands moved more easily.
Thanks to the photos I can show you the stages of quilting the mandala. Everything was quilted by me; I do not have any quilting module to do it for me. Even then I think the module would refuse to do it.
The quilted mandala.
I am very pleased with the result. But where is my tondo? From the very beginning I had planned to stretch it onto a wooden frame. So, I asked my husband to cut a round frame from plywood for me. I put it on some double-sided adhesive tape to make it easier to stretch.
My son helped me attach the quilt to the frame
The mandala is finished.
To create it I used 23 different colors, I stuck the needle in the fabric 1,407,768 times, and I used over 6 km of thread. It took me 100 hours to complete. Cool!!
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