This morning, I started working in the busy border of this little star wall hanging.
Last week, I talked about regretting busy quilting on a busy background. So, I picked a lattice pattern, with double lines about a quarter inch apart, and I used a 1” wide roll of tape as my guide.
I’m stitching up the side of one piece of tape and down the side of a parallel piece of tape. I knot both ends and don’t sew through the tape. Been there, done that. I’ll do all the rows in one direction and then come back in the other for the crosshatching efffect.
It seems to be working out pretty good. I’m getting very straight and even lines. It makes it real easy to make the repeat fit the space. I started taping at both ends and worked toward the middle. I adjusted to take up the little bit of extra space by easing tiny bits of it along the whole border length. There was a lot of pulling and re-applying tape. This tape got too hot and exposed to weather, so it’s not very sticky. Not sure if new tape would be this easy to pull and reapply or not. It might leave a residue. But, this roll is working perfectly and still sticks to the fabric more than once, making repositioning a breeze.
I sound like a commercial for leaving your tape out in the sunshine.
In January, I’m taking a thread painting class and the supply list has lots of things on it that I don’t have. One was basting spray. I’d never bought that before and found it to be very expensive…but I didn’t take time to shop around because I had a JoAnn’s 60% off coupon, so there might be better bargains out there. I also needed an eight inch embroidery hoop that would fit under the foot of my machine without having to take the foot off. There’s lots of different colored thread on the supply list, so I guess we’ll be removing and replacing our work a lot. Anyway, standard (and cheap) embroidery hoops are too thick. The tension hoops only go up to 7”. Sewing machine hoops are way expensive. I found a listing on ebay that said it would fit under the foot, and I took a chance. It came in yesterday.
It is slightly wider than a quarter inch and slides under the foot perfectly! Even if there is a quilt sandwich in it, it should slide under. I have no preconceptions of what to expect from this class. All I know is I don’t know how to thread paint and I’d like to. And, I don’t want to spend a fortune on a hoop because I might not like it.
So, now, it’s just digging through the stash for thread. I’ve started a collection basket to drop stuff into as I find it.
Hope you are well. What wild news. My thoughts are with you, Illinois!
Lane
3 comments:
I like the border; you're approaching differently than I would. I usually use a combination of seam gage and sighting some feature on the other side of the border. Yours is likely more accurate than mine.
I haven't tried thread painting yet, I'll wait to see how you like it. I'm still making quilts more for use than for show or for art, I haven't decided if I need that skill or not.
Tape?! Brilliant! Are you using ordinary masking tape, or one of those low-tack painter's tapes? Whenever I try to mark straight lines on a quilt top, the markings always rub off or disappear before I finish quilting it, so I am going to have to remember this tape trick.
The thread painting class sounds like fun! I think this is a really old technique that they even did with the Featherweights back in the day, and that's why they sold those embroidery/darning plates to cover the feed dogs. I love the concept of taking an older technique and applying it to today's fabrics, threads, and other goodies. Some of the coolest creations happen that way. Have fun in class!
Basting spray always seems to be expensive, but one can lasts a long time. I am a big fan and would hardly tackle a quilt without it these days. Washes out well, found that out when I used it to baste a binding so I could top stich. All the residue from overspray washed right out.
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