I have finally finished all 16 quilt samples! Plenty else going on in Life, so I haven't had alot of time dedicated to the sewing room.
First, I decided to deal with my sewing table. I got tired of always having to unplug my cords to lift the machine to access my bobbin case. I got my handy DH to get out his dremmel tool and here is my solution!
Now when I lift, the cords go like this:
I finally got into a groove with my samples and they turned out fine after I figured out my plan to revert back to my QuilTak basting system.
After I quilted, I serged the edges and I was very surprised how long that took. I used a special foot I had never used before, and had to wind LOTS of bobbins to get through all of them.
I threw them in the washing machine and dryer to test them and see what kind of shape they would be in as far as puckering and whether my lines would disappear without any prep. If you open this next picture you'll see my red lines and the green test lines I did just to see my new pencil.
This was using a 100% cotton and muslin. They shrunk alot, but thats because I did not give them any special care. I probably should not have dried them, but I was in a hurry.. Good thing though... you can no longer see the holes and even puckers virtually disappear when this shrunk!
I bought new quilt marking pencils. I decided the red dressmaker's triangle wasn't a good idea. And, it did not come out completely after washing. My LQS carries these Sewline pencils, and I like the idea of a thinner line, replaceable lead in different colors, and no sharpening. The lines are supposed to erase or come out in the wash. I drew on one of my samples to test in the wash. It came out just fine!
Now, I'll have to go back to working on my quilt top and the outside border. Then, I'll be quilting a real quilt! I think I'll be working with my free motion quilting some, but it is hard to have the machine set up for piecing and then switch over to quilting... But, I'll figure it out.
The Samples look great! they did shrink and crunch up a lot didn't they... I wonder if it makes a difference if you pre-wash or not as to how much they shrink?
ReplyDeleteNice fix for your cords, its nice to have a dh who knows his way around the workshop to make our ideas workable!!
Have you ever done any hand basting? I saw a cool method done with two pieces of wood, which i guess would work for pin basting or the quilt taks too for that matter.
I dont think i pinned enough when i basted this first quilt top. so have been picking out some of the stitching that is puckered.
Hope to get back at my quilting this weekend.
cheers
Dawn here is a link to the youtube video about hand bsting with the pieces of wood.
ReplyDeleteIf the link doesn't work the ladies name is Sharon Schamber and the video is Hand basting a quilt part 1. part 2 should be easy enough to find.
http://youtu.be/bhwNylePFAA
check it out and let me know what you think.
Hey Vicki,
DeleteI think that I should not have dried the samples. I don't usually put my quilts in the drier, so I'm not sure why I thought I should dry these, but I did. LOL. I don't think there will be so much shrinkage when not dried in dryer.
For sure, the pin basting method needs LOTS of pins. I think the book recommended 300 pins/quilt and more for a King size. I found that with 10 in a small 12x12 square was not enough to prevent puckering. But, I could easily put in 20 with the taks in less time and there was no problem with them being in the way when quilting.
I watched the video and I have my reservations/cautions about the method.
1. I think we have to be careful to keep the fronts/backs square and after rolling them up, turning them and unrolling them the way shown could lend to not keeping them straight. I like how small it is that way, so I see how it is tempting!
2. Since I have Taks, my method is faster and I dont have to remove them to quilt.
3. You absolutely cannot quilt with the thread near. It will catch underneath on the throat plate too if you are turning the quilt and haven't clipped enough. Which makes me wonder how do you control the puckering when removing a fairly large section of thread?
I guess if you are looking for another method besides the pins, you could try this on your next quilt and see how it works. Nice thing, it doesn't cost hardly anything to try! My pin trial was fairly expensive :( My Taks are not "cheap", but not prohibitive so I'm sticking with them.
Good luck!