October 9, 2018

Quilts on the Grand 2018

So I’ve been offline for a bit, for both good and not-so-good reasons. First, the good – John and I took a WONDERFUL trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York to stay with my sister and brother-in-law. While we were there, we were also able to get together with my parents and with my brother and sister-in-law and their amazing kiddos. So lots and lots of fun all around!

But what a different story when we got home… we first found the dryer broken (unfortunate, but not so bad), then drips in the basement (somewhat alarming), then standing water in the basement (red alert!). The hot water heater had sprung several leaks, couldn’t be repaired and had to be replaced; and then the technician let us know that our furnace also needs to be replaced asap, as well as the chimney (fire hazard). Whew!

Since my studio is downstairs (along with the dryer, water heater, furnace and chimney), and everything had to be packed up and/or pushed to one side in each of the large rooms downstairs in order to mop up water and create space for the repair crews to work, my creative activities will be a bit curtailed for the immediate future.

But a very bright spot in the midst of all this – the biennial Quilts on the Grand show put on by the West Michigan Quilters’ Guild at the Delta Plex in Grand Rapids, MI. Continue Reading…

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September 27, 2018

The Good, The Bad, and the Unfortunate…

I should have known, first thing in the morning when my 30 ounce environmentally friendly metal tumbler full of organic pu-erh tea and coconut cream completely upended all over a four foot radius of bedding, pillows, books, magazines, bedside rug and slippers that it wasn’t going to be an auspicious day for precision work.

But I’m an essentially optimistic person, so I decided to proceed with my plans to machine quilt my invisible machine appliqué teaching sample anyway.

Before quilting…

What followed what a series of unfortunate events punctuated by the occasional expression of shock and consternation.

It wasn’t just the tea that should have tipped me off that the stars were not in alignment that day.

The first step was to assemble my quilt “sandwich” of quilt top, batting, and backing. I soon discovered that the supposedly fusible batting I had specifically purchased for this project wasn’t fusible after all. So no biggie, I thought, we can improvise. Continue Reading…

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September 12, 2018

Experiments in Binding – Changing the Width

In a previous post, I started experimenting with sewing quilt binding on the back of the quilt and then bringing it around to the front and appliquéing it down by machine (instead of sewing it to the front of the quilt, wrapping it around, and hand-stitching it on the back of the quilt).

I felt the experiment was successful, but the process needed refining. I’m going to give it another go. 🙂

This time I cut the binding strips 2 1/4″ wide. I still want the binding to be wider on the front of the quilt than the back (so that I don’t catch the binding in the appliqué stitching), but not as wide as in my first experiment.

I started by sewing the folded binding to the back of the quilt with a 1/4″ seam.

Then I wrapped the binding around to the front of the quilt, using Wonder Clips to hold it in place, and removed the clips as I worked my way around the quilt.

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September 9, 2018

Straight Line Machine Quilting with the Jazz

I was perplexed when I realized that the Baby Lock Jazz, which is marketed as a quilting and sewing machine, doesn’t come with a walking foot among the 9 included presser feet. It seems like a counter-intuitive omission. Not that big a deal for me, since I already have a deluxe Baby Lock low-shank walking foot for another machine that will also fit the Jazz, but definitely a first add-on purchase if you don’t have one on hand.

I truly enjoy free-motion machine quilting, so I tend not to do a lot of straight-line work. But I was intrigued with the number of quilts – particularly in the Modern Quilt exhibit – in the recent AQS show that featured simple straight-line channel quilting. The trend in show quilts of very dense, elaborate free-motion quilting seems to be still going strong, but the pendulum also seems to be swinging in the other direction – simple, but very graphic and effective, straight line quilting.

Since most of the fabrics I’ve designed for sale in my shop at Spoonflower.com (more on this another time) feature fairly complex designs, I’m thinking that straight line quilting might be an effective way to complement an overall quilt design without adding another layer of elaborate patterning.

Here is how I set up my machine:

- Aurifil 50 wt. cotton thread in the top and 60 wt. Bottom Line in the bobbin
- Schmetz Quilting Needle, size 75
- Walking foot with guide bar set 3/4″ from the needle (this width is purely personal preference)
- straight stitch
- stitch width: 3.5 (straight stitch setting on the Jazz, as discussed in my previous post)
- stitch length: about 2.25 (this is slightly longer than the stitch I used for piecing the quilt)

Stitch width and length settings I used for machine quilting with the walking foot

I started by using my white Clover Chaco Liner to mark one vertical line through the center of the quilt. This is the only marking I’ll need, since I’ve attached the guide bar to my walking foot. Since I don’t want to have any more than half the quilt going through my machine at a time, I will work from the center of the quilt to the right-hand side of the quilt, and then rotate the entire quilt and quilt from the center to the (new) right-hand side of the quilt again.

Side view of Baby Lock walking foot with adjustable guide bar attached

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September 5, 2018

Piecing on the Jazz

Continuing my evaluation of the Baby Lock Jazz – It’s time to piece a quilt!

One of the first things I looked for is a straight stitch throat plate, as I have found that very helpful for sewing perfectly accurate, consistently straight seams on other machines, especially when strip piecing. I was initially disappointed to find that there is no straight stitch throat plate available for the Baby Lock Jazz. But I decided to give it a go before making up my mind as to whether or not this poses a significant problem.

Here is how it went:

Since the last stitching I had done was a zigzag stitch, the first thing was to switch the machine back to a straight stitch. No problem. However, when I adjusted the stitch length to 0 (stitch width is not applicable for a straight stitch, right?) I immediately realized I had a problem:

I initially assumed I should set the stitch width to 0 for a straight stitch

Notice the problem – the needle hits the presser foot!

So I consulted the manual – which is terrific, by the way; very clear and well-illustrated.

Following the manual, I reset the stitch width to the dot marked on the dial.

This is the correct stitch width setting for a straight stitch

Perfectly lined up! Continue Reading…

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August 31, 2018

How Does the Jazz Do with Invisible Machine Appliqué?

So far the Jazz is performing superbly. 🙂

But an important test for me is how well it will do with invisible machine appliqué, as that is one of my specialties. Of course, my other machines are just great for this, but I’m excited about having much more workspace on the Jazz.

Here is how I set up the machine:

.004 monofilment thread for my top thread – MonoPoly from Superior Threads
60 wt. polyester filament thread in the bottom – Bottom Line from Superior Threads
Schmetz Microtex Sharp Needle, size 70/10

A regular zigzag presser foot works perfectly well, but I prefer an open-toe appliqué foot as it allows better visibility.

I like to use a very small zigzag stitch for this. Depending on the machine I am using, the width and length settings are usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5, 1.5 or 2.0, 2.0. Here is how I set the stitch length and width on the Jazz:

Stitch settings on the Baby Lock Jazz for invisible machine appliqué – about 1.9 and 1.8.

After doing some test stitching on scrap fabric, I determined (to my surprise and delight!) that no tension adjustments were necessary. The stitches were perfectly balanced – no bobbin thread visible on the top of the fabric and no monofilament visible on the back.

However, I did find that the monofilament thread had a tendency to coil off and wrap around the spool pin, causing it to break; but I quickly solved that issue with a thread net placed over the spool.

Sliding a thread net over the spool keeps the thread feeding smoothly into the machine

I prepared my appliqué pieces by ironing the edges over freezer paper templates, which I removed later.

One side of the zigzag goes into the appliqué piece, while the other side goes only into the background fabric, just off the edge of the appliqué

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August 26, 2018

AQS Quilt Week Grand Rapids 2018

From the American Quilter’s Society website:

“AQS QuiltWeek events are held in multiple cities across the country. These events make an indelible mark on the fiber art community by offering the largest cash prizes for quilters in the country, thanks to our generous sponsors! In additional to displaying the contest quilts at each event, attendees can enjoy a variety of special quilt exhibits from around the world. Each event also features workshops and lectures with top quilting instructors, and a huge Merchant Mall with vendors offering the latest machines, fabrics, and other tools used in quiltmaking.”

I had the pleasure of attending the last day of the Grand Rapids QuiltWeek, which ran Aug. 22-25, 2018.
I’ve been to many, many regional & national/international quilt shows over the past few decades, in a wide variety of roles, including contestant, exhibitor, speaker, teacher, and/or guest, and I have to say that this one was one of my favorites.

I renewed my AQS membership, too!

Sadly, my schedule only permitted me to spend a few hours at the show this year, which is not nearly enough time to take in everything. John (my husband) and I had to breeze through the show at a pretty fast clip to try to see as much as we could in the time we had, and I know there was much we missed.

That said, I thought it was a fabulous show! One of the things I liked the most was the wide variety of color palettes, techniques, and styles. In addition to all the competitive categories, the show included a number of wonderful special exhibits.

Here are some of my favorites – although quite of few of my photos didn’t turn out well enough to share, so this list is very incomplete!

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August 23, 2018

Experiments in Binding – Bringing the Binding From the Back to the Front

In my last post, I started a sewing/quilting experiment by doing things a little differently than I normally would.

(1) I sewed the binding first to the back of the quilt (in the past, I’ve always sewed the binding to the front first)

(2) I purposely planned to have the binding finish at 1/4″ wide on the back and approximately 1/2″ wide on the front so I would stay clear of the binding on the back when sewing the binding down on the front of the quilt (in the past, I’ve always made sure my bindings were the same width on the front as on the back)

Now I’m ready for the next twist!

(3) Sewing the free edge of the binding down by machine instead of by hand.

And to take it even further,

(4) Appliquéing the free edge down with a small zigzag stitch!

The first step is to start wrapping the binding around to the front.

Bringing the binding around to the front

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August 20, 2018

Experiments in Binding – Sewing the Binding to the Back of the Quilt First

After taking some time away from my sewing machine to focus on getting the Lakeshore Sewing Creative Quarterly ready for the printer, I’m back in business. 🙂

I’m ready to bind my newest incarnation of Cascade from Colorwash Bargello Quilts.

I’ve always bound my quilts by sewing the binding to the front of the quilt by machine, and then wrapping the binding around to the back of the quilt and sewing it down my hand. I love the look; but unfortunately, it is very hard on my hands. So I’ve been thinking for a while about how to eliminate the handwork without sacrificing quality.

I’ve seen many examples of machine-sewn bindings that were first sewn on the front of the quilt, wrapped to the back, and then machine stitched “in the ditch” from the front of the quilt, (hopefully) catching the binding in the stitching on the back of the quilt. Sometimes it looks great, but I’ve also seen it end up pretty messy. I’m concerned that it can be tricky to get a nice consistently clean result on the back of the quilt, since you can’t see the binding underneath when you are stitching from the front.

So today I am trying something a little different.

The preparatory steps are exactly the same as if I were attaching my binding in the traditional manner.

I cut my binding strips 2 1/2″ wide. For this quilt, I need about 4 1/2 strips cut the full width of the fabric. I’m joining the strips with a diagonal seam, as that helps prevent the seam allowances where are strips are joined together from forming lumps or bumps in the finished binding. I trim the excess triangle of fabric on the other side of the seam and press the seam open.

Joining the binding strips with a diagonal seam (strips are right sides together and stitched at a 90 degree angle; the excess triangles of fabric on the other side of the seam are trimmed away)

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August 4, 2018

A No Hand-Sewing Method for Adding a Hanging Sleeve to a Quilt

The quilting on my newest Colorwash Bargello quilt is finished!

Cascade II from Colorwash Bargello Quilts by Beth Ann Williams, quilted and pinned to the design wall, ready for a sleeve and binding

It actually only took me about 2 1/2 hours cumulatively to complete the all-over free-motion quilting, but I had to break the time up into smaller increments so as to not overtax my body – taking into account MS, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, chronic pain & peripheral neuropathy (among other things). Whew!

I’ve squared up the quilt and cut off the excess batting and backing fabric. Before I add the binding, I’m going to add a hanging sleeve. Typically, hanging sleeves are at least partially, if not completely, hand-sewn, but I developed my own methods so as to spare some of the wear and tear on my hands. It’s also super quick to do. 🙂

Note: I included this method in my book, Colorwash Bargello Quilts, as well as the more traditional way to add a formal sleeve. I use this easy sleeve on almost all of my quilts, whether they are teaching samples, personal quilts, or art quilts.

Easy (No Hand-Sewing) Sleeve:

Measure the width of the longest border at the upper end of the quilt (or longest horizontal seam near the top of the quilt). Double this measurement, and add 3/8″ to determine the width of your sleeve. In this case, the border measures 4″ wide, so I’ll cut the sleeve 8 3/8″ wide.