Marking Plans

I was asked last week how I will mark my quilt so here goes.  I made some changes to my design, but only added some more detail.  Then I drew it all over again!  By drawing the design on paper you build muscle memory, but it is not quite the same as working on the machine.  In the recent issue of AQS magazine RaNae Merrill has an article on how to use a plastic guide to practice your quilting before you try it on the machine.  Next, using sandwiched samples you practice your design with the sewing machine before you let the needle puncture your quilt.

I made templates of the shapes that have to be perfect.  Shapes that I can't free motion without a guide.  I had a bunch of poster board that I don't  anticipate using in the next 50 years so I drew the template shapes on them, except for one.  I don't know, but suspect that template plastic is more expensive and certainly less available in my small town.

Templates for internal shapes in my design.

The one template that is made from plastic shows 1/4 inch guidelines that mirror the outer shape (the curved triangle-ish one above).  This will be used to mark the grid that will fill it.  I don't have the fancy rulers being used for ruler work, nor do I have the necessary foot.  I can do this just fine without them as long as I have a drawn line to follow.

1/4" guide for a grid.  I'll clean off the pencil smears before using it.

I find I can follow lines with the needle quite well, but I can draw them better by hand, so I mark anything that has to be fairly perfect.  I need to mark this design (scroll down to last week to see the unfinished drawing) on an 8 inch black border.
     *Blue wash-away pen won't show.
     *Purple air-dry pen won't show.
     *Pouncing chalk makes a mess and smears.
     *White pen does not work for me.  It always disappears too quickly.
     *Frixion pens leave chemicals that come out to play if the quilt gets cold (winter mail).
     *I hate messing with that thin tissue you can sew through and find it imprecise.

My choice is my Sew-Line ceramic/chalk marker.  I love it.  It works like a mechanical pencil and rubs off if necessary. It comes with an eraser on the top, which is great for small goofs. However, if I have a big goof I put on my machine quilting gloves and rub the error out with those.  I have never had it stay if I didn't want it to.

Sewline marker and refills.

TIP:  As I mark around a template the line is a little thicker than a pencil line so when I quilt I stitch at the inside edge of marked lines.

Of course there is a downside.  It will eventually rub off as you manipulate your quilt.  The solution?  I mark as I go.  By the time I need to mark my quilt it will all be stabilized with ditch stitching. The internal part of the quilt should be totally free motion with little or no need to mark anything except grids.   For the border I will mark 1/8 of the border at a time.  At this time that is the plan.

For the feathers I mark only the spine and then do the feather loops free hand.

The feather spine is the curvy line on the bottom.  Looks strange without the
feathers, but it will do the job.

TIP:  Practice your feathers.  Soon you too will be able to mark only the stem and freehand the feathers with your needle.  You can also draw a freehand guide line for the outer edges of the feathers to keep them contained.

I am eager to get going on this and I got my batting and backing fabric, but I think I will finish my collie dog first.  She is very close to done.

Sew some happy seams this weeks.  I wish you time to practice your quilting skills this week.