Following on from last week's post, I have now finished the sample of my quilt for the 'on the edge' challenge. I learned a lot from making it, and it helped me make a lot of decisions as to how to approach the making of the full sized quilt. So, for that reason alone, it was worth every moment I spent making it. I finalised my choice of fabric colours, thread type as well as the techniques I wanted to use. No only that, I got my needle size and type sorted out an the tension settings my machine was happy to stitch. All in all it made making the real quilt quick and easy.
What the picture above doesn't show are the fabrics from my little pile of scraps which I discarded. The main reason for discarding them was due to fraying. Even with the Bondaweb on the back the raw edges a few of the fabrics were particularly bad. After being reminded by Sue (thanks for getting in touch, Sue) I tried some Terial Magic (click here to see a blog post about what that is), which did solve the problem, but as I don't have a lot of experience of the product I decided not to chance it on a quilt that might, if selected, go on tour for a year or so. The last thing I want is for raw edges to start looking ragged (even if the challenge is called 'on the edge'!) The other thing the sample helped me sort out was which thread I wanted to use. I like to use either Isacord polyester embroidery thread or rayon threads for my quilting, as I love the shine those particular threads have. The Isacord is super strong and in my opinion is one of the most versatile threads around. However, on my way here back in December I did a bit of 'shopping' and bought some large cones of rayon and decorative threads which I was looking forward to trying. So I opened up a new spool of shiny white rayon and tried it out.
After a few stitching samples I found the best combination for this thread was the following combination: a metallic 80/12 needle, matching white rayon thread in the bobbin and the tension dropped ever so slightly. Once that was sorted I did not have a single thread breakage.
With all that ironed out making the quilt was a fairly quick job. The trickiest part was making sure the finished quilt (after quilting, which always shrinks he quilt up a little) ended up the correct dimensions - exactly 60cm wide and 100cm tall. To make sure I hit those dimensions on the button I left the top edge and the top left hand side of the quilt 'open' so I can turn in those edges later once the quilting is almost finished. Here are a few pictures that show the quilting patterns I did with the lovely rayon thread (sorry about the dangling threads - I haven't tied them off and pulled them through yet. ( I use an 'easy thread' needle for that.)
And this is how my 20 sided quilt currently looks. I really like the clean bright colours against the white background, and I also like the unusual shape. Plenty of 'edges', that's for sure! What I'm not sure I like is that it is a bit 'plain'. I am going to see what I can come up with to zoosh it up a bit. What do you think? Incidentally - do you know what a twenty sided shape is called? I do now! Thanks for reading
Alison
16/2/2016 08:34:40 am
Really admire the detailed thought behind this piece and how well it works. You say you use Bondaweb. I wondered what you think of Heat and Bond Lite as an alternative?
Claire Passmore
16/2/2016 09:23:57 am
Hi Alison
Lorraine
16/2/2016 09:05:57 am
I like it very much Claire. it will be interesting to see what you add to the edges.
Claire Passmore
16/2/2016 09:25:25 am
Hi Lorraine,
k3n
16/2/2016 04:11:15 pm
An icosagon isn't it? (yes, I admit, I googled 😁) I like the contrasts in colours, shapes and quilting and really love the edges but agree it needs something more... What about some inktense colouring on the white quilting that you're so good at? Just a suggestion, whatever you come up with will be great xx
Claire Passmore
16/2/2016 05:59:41 pm
Hi k3n, Comments are closed.
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