New Start

With my sewing machine out of town, I cleared off my sewing table and ironing board and set it up for fusing dog fur.  Not literally, but I am going to make a dog quilt.  Scroll down to last week to see the photo of Lady.  I dragged my feet a bit as it was a heavy week and my body was too tired to stand at the ironing board to do the work.  However, I spent the time thinking about the process and the materials needed.  I don't need to buy any fabric and that is always nice as I am a long way from the good quilt stores.  This is a stop-gap project and I will probably not finish it for awhile because I want to focus on the quilt that I am quilting...when my machine gets home from the repair shop.

I think I figured out how to do the bow.  Those tiny pieces look daunting to do in fabric so I decided to paint them.  I love to paint and have ordered a starter set of Textil paints from Marabu.  They are acrylic and reportedly bright and mixable.  The ad I saw says that they are slightly thinner that other acrylic fabric paint, go on fabric smoothly, and leave the fabric with a nice hand.  It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't expensive so I am giving it a try.  I got a starter kit with six basic colors.  I can do anything with that!  I might try to make the ribbon look shiny with a light coat of Mod Podge after the paint dries, but it will be awhile before I get to that.

Now to the dog:
1.  Turn the photo into black and white, then separate the photo into 5 black and white values (posterize in Photoshop).

2.  Draw lines around each value and label each value from 1 to 5, on mylar with a fine, black Sharpie.

3.  On a light box, trace the lines on freezer paper to put under a silicone ironing sheet to guide placement of fabric.

TIP:  I use a plexiglass sewing machine table extension for my light box.  The light is my Ott light, which opens out flat to lay under the table extension.

4.  Repeat step 3.  This copy will be cut to pieces on the lines as patterns for cutting fabric.

TIP:  Cut out one piece of the second freezer paper pattern at a time, using it to cut the fabric piece with fusible attached.  If you cut out all the pieces at once you will never find where anything belongs.

In the photo below you can see where I left out the ribbon.  I will do it separately.  The dark places (eyes and one piece of fur) have already been cut out so you see the dark floor through the holes.  I started with the eyes because they are critical and need to be exactly right.

Lady in outline

Next week I will show my progress in placing fabrics.  It looks daunting, but is really quite simple  I enjoy cutting out the pieces and seeing it all come together.  Each piece is cut 1/16 inch larger around the edges so it will lay under the next piece.  I am starting with the lightest value so I won't have dark edges showing through the white fabric.  I will progress to the next darker value and so on until I come to the black, which will go on last.  The final touch will be the bow, which I will make separately and attach all in one piece.

Sew some happy seams this week, or have fun fusing fabrics.

Revisiting Paper Piecing...Again

I am back on familiar ground as I begin making the blocks for a new start on the quilt I designed months ago.  The paperless paper piecing did not give me the precision that I was expecting and I was not happy with the result (scroll down to read my last two posts).  I have now stitched up several half-blocks with Sulky Paper Solvy and I love how they look.  I have not sewn any of the half-squares together yet to yield full squares, but I don't anticipate any problems since I made triangular blocks for each corner with the paper method and they look great.

When I have paper pieced before I have cut the fabric in long strips and just worked along them, slicing, dicing and stitching as I went.  Sometimes this involved a little guesswork as to where to cut.  Other times I would fail to cover the outline of the paper, which meant I had to rip and replace.  There was a fair amount of waste.  This time I spent two hours cutting out the fabric pieces and arranging them in labelled piles.  Just cutting economically limited waste significantly.  There was also very little fabric lost in trimming during the stitching process.

What about time?  With the pieces already cut for both the paperless and the paper methods the time spent came out in favor of the paper method.  With paperless, I still had to stitch the seams.  With paper I still have to remove the paper.  All in all about even, I think.  I use Sulky Paper Solvy, which is water soluble so tearing out the paper is optional.  I like to get it out, but I don't worry about getting each and every tiny piece.

BTW the "bad" quilt top, which was stiff and icky after a 2-hour soak came out soft and nice after 30 minutes in the washing machine with the normal amount of soap.  I will use it later, cut it up (no seam ripping) and stitch it into a new quilt.

TIP:  When cutting pattern pieces you can cut rough.  The cut pieces should mimic the pattern piece with a tiny bit extra, but do not have to be precisely in line with the edges.  Any extra will be trimmed as you go.

TIP:  It is nice to work with batik because you can use either side of the fabric.  If the pattern calls for an odd shape you can use it on one block or turn it over for the mirror image block.  That's called 'mistake reduction.'

TIP:  The secret to precise paper piecing is the pressing of each and every seam.  Don't use an iron because the paper gets scorched and brittle; same with the fingers.  Instead use a small roller or a point-to-point turner, both made by Clover (or how about a spoon?), to press each seam completely back over the stitching each and every time before you add the next piece.

There is nothing photogenic going on this week in my workroom so I will share some of the photos that I have put on Facebook for a black and white challenge.  A black and white photo must have significant value variation to be interesting.  Black, grey and white express the values that are so important in making quilts, even your most colorful ones.   In this day of digital expression you can take a photo of your chosen fabrics, then turn it into a black and white photo in an editing program to make sure your quilt has some dark/black, medium and very light/white fabrics.

In the Olympic Mountains, WA state.

Bighorn Ram.

Somewhere in the Southwest USA.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you a week of great value.

Little Crystal

If you are wondering why I am going back to my quilting beginnings I will give you two reasons.  One:  it is a good place to start my new blog.  Two:  I want you beginners to see that we all start at the bottom of the learning curve.  There is a lot to learn in quilting:  sewing, buying the right fabric, appraising values, organizing, measuring, putting it all together straight, quilting, and finishing it beautifully.  It takes time to learn the basics.  It takes time to achieve confidence.  Some of us have been sewing since childhood. Some have a natural talent for putting colors together.  Some have taken art classes, graphics classes, textile classes and more.  Others start from scratch.  The one thing we all have in common is that we like to sew and we like to create beautiful things.  That is my soap box for today.

Today's featured quilt is a little gem from a pattern called "Crystal" by Jinny Beyer, printed in "Quilts with Style" magazine in June 2004.  Using patterns is a great way to learn new techniques.  I had done some paper piecing, but this one was a challenging learning experience.  It is only 16 1/2" x 16 1/2" so the pieces are very small.  I don't think it could be done in any other way.  I discovered late in the process that one little piece was a tad bit too short and a tiny edge poked out, but it would be crazy to undo everything to get to it.  I left it as is because it was such a small imperfection and not really noticeable.  I was not into showing quilts yet and it will never be heavily used so it remains defective.  I will always know it is there, somewhere.  I am fussier now.

TIP:  When paper piecing be sure that the fabric covers the required area completely with seam allowance as necessary…as you go.

TIP:  Be sure to press the seam every time you stitch and press it all the way back away from the stitched join. I use Sulky Paper Solvy for the foundation, but if you have a lot of seams to press it gets scorched and brittle from the iron.  I now use the Hera Marker to do "finger pressing."  I find I do a better job of getting the fabric tightly pressed and I don't burn the paper or my fingers.  A toothbrush back also works.

This little quilt is quilted with the simplest looking, but a difficult type of quilting:  stitch-in-the-ditch.  It is good for a beginner to learn because while the foot helps maintain control, the eye must develop the ability to make sure the needle goes down in the right place.  Poorly done, it will show, but not nicely.  Well done, it will be invisible.