I decided earlier this year that I wasn’t going to start a new quilt until all the ones from the Summer of Quilts were finished. Well, I completed the last one in July so I was free to start something new. What I’d been most itching to try was a kawandi-inspired project.

The Kawandi approach appealed because I like repurposing fabric and doing running stitch. I already had a half dozen men’s shirts to find a use for, some yellow mercerised thrums that would make a nice contrast, and waaaaay more old sheets for testing sewing patterns than I need.

As it turned out, I also had a piece of leftover flannelette about the size I was thinking for the piece so I decided to use that as the battling/filler. From the old sheets I chose one I’d dyed with indigo ages ago for the backing, cut it 2 cm larger than the flannelette and pressed the excess in as the hem.

Then I started tearing the shirts into rectangles and sewing those down along the edge.

Once I’d made it around the edge of the whole piece, I tucked in the flannelette rectangle as I’d seen done in videos. This was really fiddly, and I can’t see much advantage in doing it in this order, so next time I’ll simply lay the flannelette on top of the backing before pressing in the hem. But at least doing it the fiddly way means the above photo shows the fabric on the underside.

I’m not including the little fabric tassels on the corners that traditional kawandi have because, well, I forgot to add them. Rather than pull the stitches out I decided to keep it simple. It’s a piece to learn with, not an attempt to get it ‘right’ first time.