I have been working on a double wedding ring table table topper. It is full of curved seams, and I have done them many times. Picture a dozen pins holding it all in place. Force it under the presser foot. Try to keep the puckers out. Try to remember to pull the pins out before they interact with the needle. Saliva is useful to remove blood from the fabric.
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| Two pieces to sew together in a curved seam |
My pattern is from Judy Niemeyer and she simplifies much of the process...with glue. I have used glue on tricky seams many times, but I hadn't thought about it for this pattern. Wow! It takes all the work out of sewing the curved seams. I used 3 pins: one on each end and one in the middle during the gluing process.
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| Pin Placement. Glued together. |
Press to set the glue (it will wash out later). Then I pulled out the middle pin leaving only the ones on the ends...just in case. The sewing went so fast I couldn't believe it. I did have to address a couple of tiny puckers but they eased out without trouble, and I did a LOT of curved seams.
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| Inside |
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| Outside |
I use Elmer's clear glue. You can also buy a glue stick, but I have a needle nose, screw-on top on my bottle of glue. I got that top at a local Woodcraft store, but I am sure they are on the Internet somewhere. You don't even need to keep track of a cover for the pointy top. This glue does not like plastic and does not stick to it. If there is a little glue left on the tip it may get rubbery, but is pulled out easily with a pin and you are ready to go. No muss. No fuss. No lid to lose!
All those tricky seams are done now and I am ready to free-motion quilt. Well, first I will stitch in the ditch of every seam. On this quilt I can do that with my dual feed foot, which makes that process easier because this is a very small quilt. I don't think it would work as well on a large quilt so you would have to FMQ. As you see, I am all for easy where possible.
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| Together |
Sew some happy seams this week. I wish you success with glue and curved seams.
Hi Mardi - I've seen a lot of people speak favorably of using glue and want to try it. With using glue, WHEN do you wash it out - when the top is a flimsy, or after it is completely quilted and bound? I'm trying to wrap my brain around how it washes out after everything is assembled and quilted, but washing it as a flimsy seems like it would introduce other problems (fraying and possibly distortion). Thanks for any advice you can give me!
ReplyDeleteI don't worry about it until the quilt is done. I soak it to get marks out usually using Eucalan, which washes without needing to be rinsed out. However, if a spot gets too stiff and causes problems during sewing or quilting I spray it with clear water. I have never washed it out of the flimsy because I am afraid that the piecing might get distorted. By the time you quilt it all those pieces should be well secured. You don't need to use much glue...a thin line or a few dots should do the trick. Good luck. I LOVE it!
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