Yesterday, I complained because you couldn’t see my camel colored Coats and Clark 35 weight thread on a busy background.
Today, I’m complaining because you can. See it between the red and black fabrics? Yes, I picked a line where I didn’t go left or right and make a mistake that shows like a beacon in the night. And, in that light thread, that’s how I feel like they show. Anyway, I’ve picked a dark grey thread, very fine thread and am going to pull just that little bit out of the half dozen blocks I already put it in and replace it with the grey thread.
So, here’s where I’m going to really get freaky. Instead of laying a pattern over that black background floral, I’m going to FMQ around the print, which will transfer an outline of the print to the back and make the black background stand out on the front.
I’m going to try that on at least one block and see if I like it. If I do, you’ll get to see it. If I don’t, you’ll forget I teased you with it. Eventually.
I also put the binding on this little quilt. 
Do you ever feel like you could put a binding on in your sleep? That’s what I felt like this morning. I was really watching TV, and then suddenly, it was done and ready for the hand work. I trimmed this quilt in advance, like Bonnie Hunter does, and then applied the binding. I do feel like I got a straighter line.
When I posted about that, a couple of people said they sew their bindings on with a quarter inch seam. I use 3/8. That way, a bit of batting gets folded into the binding, making the binding thick and full. Ever have a judge tell you your binding is loose? This will solve that. In order to fold it over and hand stitch to the back to hide the seam that attached the binding, you’ll have to fold over about an eighth of an inch of batting. There’s your binding tip of the day from my mentor to you.
This is the fabric Syd gave me as a focus for her next quilt.
Criminny!
Rosy pink, brown, and purple.
Just shoot me now.
I’ll be trolling for some yardage of this, so if anybody stumbles up on it on a bolt, please shout. This FQ came from a quilt show. Unknown store.
Criminny.
Be well. You know every quilter loves a good challenge. It’s always hunting season when you quilt.
Lane
6 comments:
I use a 1/4" seam, but I also use a 2" binding and then the quilt also fills out the binding. I do a 2 3/8" binding when I plan to sew it to the front and stitch in the ditch to catch it on the back. I always square up my quilt and trim it before binding.
I had the same problem with using a 30 cream thread on a project. It just shouts "Look at me!!!" As Diane Gaudynski says, it's like trying to dance ballet in combat boots. Now I use 40 for most quilts or for delicate work, 70 silk thread.
I use a 1/4" seam, but the way I trim, the batting comes to the edge so that 1/4" of batting is trapped in the seam. Then I hand stitch the binding to the back. I've never gotten a good result machine stitching the closing seam on the binding.
loving Miss Sydney's fabric, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this.
For the last bed sized quilt I made I followed Sharon Schamber's binding method, which uses glue to secure the binding to the quilt. The binding turns out great, but it's a ton of work.
My quilts' edges are wavy because I'm a beginner at binding, and putting glue on the binding helped. Hopefully I'll be able to skip that step as I get better at it.
That print Syd picked is gorgeous. Happy hunting :).
I used to trim my quilts before I sewed the binding on. Then, when I got marks back (specifically on the binding) on a quilt from a quilt show & shared them in a post, someone suggested to sew the binding on first and then trim to get a better fill. Sewing at 3/8" is also a good solution. I've got a quilt to bind, so maybe I'll try it.
I like your idea of outline quilting the print in the center of that block. I don't really like the idea of all that unpicking, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? Can't wait to see.
xo -E
Have you ever quilted with more than one color, changing the color as the fabric dictates? The FQ is a very interesting fabric. If you can't find more (maybe the people who put the show together have a list of who sold things and where their booths were listed), maybe you could use that FQ in a center medallion and then use coordinating fabrics for the rest of the quilt.
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