Nuno to Mono

For my most recent Kokka make, I was gifted Nuno to Mono cotton hemp sheeting in color A. I had never used sheeting, so I was anxious to get my hands on it and literally put my hands on it!

What is SHEETING?

According to my rep at Kokka, the Nuno to Mono (translated as "cloth and things") cotton-hemp sheeting is 85% cotton and 15% hemp. The added hemp makes the fabric have a slightly coarser texture than a 100% cotton. Texture?! Count me in! If you know me, you know I love texture in my quilts. And just in case you're wondering, the Nuno to Mono series is the KOKKA range of high-quality fabric basics that comes in sheeting, canvases, lawns, sailcloths and more.

What does SHEETING feel like?

When I first touched the sheeting, it made me think of crisp, starched cotton fabric. Almost paper-like, in a good way. It also has somewhat of a sheen to it. I tried to capture this when I was taking pictures of it outside on the grass. Given its texture and crisp nature, it was extremely easy to cut clean and accurate pieces for my quilt. No starching (or pressing for that matter) needed. Seriously!

What is it like to work with SHEETING?

I'd like to point out that I do not prewash my fabric before using it to make a quilt. While that is a debate among many a quilters, I will leave my thoughts on that for another blog post. That being said, working with the sheeting that had not be pre-washed, was quite lovely. It laid flat and smooth, was easy to cut, didn't fray, and stitched together without issues.

When it was time to press my seams, I pulled out my mister and tannaMade clapper (made by my hubby). My preferred method is to press open with a shot of steam and then use the clapper to absorb the moisture, leaving a beautiful and flat seam. While it did result in a flat seam, I believe adding the steam to unwashed fabric shrunk it a bit. Just enough for this OCD quilter to go a bit nuts. Thankfully, I noticed this right away and stopped steaming and clapping.

What about the PLUS fabrics?

For the plus signs, I used two different cotton lawns from KOKKA and a 100% cotton solid by Tilda fabrics. The KOKKA lawn fabrics were: Flownny Mimosa Cotton Lawn in color A and Flownny Ditsy cotton lawn. Lawn is a lightweight, 100% cotton with a higher thread count compared to sheeting. This gives it a slightly softer texture, making it a perfect fit for a summer quilt. Again, these fabrics were amazing to work with and I just wanted to wrap myself in them. Good thing I used them in a quilt. Wink, wink! Given that the lawns were more lightweight, I definitely used my pins and my dual feel foot on my Bernina. I didn't have any issues stitching the lawns and sheeting together.

The pattern:

The pattern used was the Callie quilt by sewandsew.quilting.co. This pattern was well written and a quick make. While I made the baby size (40"x48"), I will definitely make the throw size at some point. I really liked the way the blocks were constructed. Rather than cut a million little pieces and then sew them together, fabrics were sewn together in strips and then cut to make the plus signs. Super efficient AND more accurate! I'm definitely considering using this pattern for a precision piecing class in the future.

What is my takeaway?

Working with sheeting is fabulous sans steam. If you want to steam and clap your seams, I would suggest pre-washing the cotton sheeting. For washing, KOKKA recommends to hand wash or use a delicate, cold, setting in the washing machine and always hand/line dry! Some shrinkage is expected, as with all 100% cottons.

Final Results:

Unwashed, the crisp fabric lies smooth and flat - perfect if you plan to hang the quilt. Washed, it is soft and just a little crinkly. Just right for snuggling! To be honest, it didn't shrink much at all. To note: I washed the quilt on cold, delicate cycle with two Shout color catchers and line dried it. The color catchers had no visible dye on them. I highly recommend KOKKA sheeting for quilting and was thrilled with the results.